Highschool DxD:A Minor Tale
by Omit Everything
Summary: A regular man ends up dying and miraculously reincarnates into Highschool DxD! A world of magic, swords, monsters, devils, and gods! With all the knowledge he has in his back pocket will he change the plot or use it to his advantage? The possibilities are endless! Though there is one small problem, he's about 400 or so years before canon and oh yeah he's human. Let the show begin!
1. Prologue

**Prologue: An Average Reincarnation**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD that honor goes to the perverted sensei known as lchiei lshibumi, though the OC's are mine.

* * *

In a fairly large and clean wooden house, a Doctor named Miles Evergreen finds himself in the middle of a particularly long and difficult labor as he tries to help his patient, a pregnant woman named Maddie.

"Alright Maddie just a bit longer I need you push a bit more okay?" Evergreen tries to give instructions to the woman in labor

"Arghhhhh what do hmmm think I've been arghh doing?!" Maddie in between painful grunts

Giving a faint smile to the woman's attitude, Evergreen started to resume pulling the baby out the particularity antsy woman. 'Well at least she still has the energy to be snarky, that's a good sign.'

"Come on honey you can do this, just a bit more now." Her husband, Mason, continued giving words of encouragement to his wife as she moaned and scuffed in pain.

"Hrrngggggg!" That was the last stretch as the baby, they now saw was a boy, popped right out into the doctor's hands. Maddie gave a long exhale as she slumped in the bed as the nurse on the side quickly brought a bowl of warm water and the doctor proceeded to clean the blood covered baby. Maddie and her husband were watching as Doctor Evergreen worked, checking the baby for any irregularity's or birth defects thankfully he found none. 'Pulse is good, breathing? Shallow but regular. No problems I can see on the surface.' Evergreen couldn't find a problem with the baby boy besides the obvious. 'He wasn't crying.' That put a frown on the Doctors face and if the quiet was any answer indicator the parents of the child were also unsettled by this. 'Is he mute? Or is there still blood in his vocal cords?' Evergreen quickly realized something the baby, its eyes were open and he was looking right at him. 'No he's not looking at me, he's trying to place me.' The way the boy looked at him made a chill run down Evergreen's spine, not cause it was malicious or creepy, it was just... 'There was too much focus in his eyes I mean he hasn't stopped looking into my eyes after so lon-'

"Doctor...is everything alright?" Maddie's tired question brought Evergreen back to the present as he looked at the newly made mother and father.

"Hmm? Oh yes everything's alright I just thought I saw something but it must be my imagination." The Doctor's answer brought some relief to the worried pair as Maddie asked if she can hold her son. The Doctor gingerly placed the newborn in the mother's arms as her husband peaked over her shoulder to get a good view. He chose this time to give them some space as he took the nurse and walked out the birthing room. 'What was that back there I could sworn that boy recognized what was going on after looking around but ho-'

"Dr. Evergreen?" The nurse, Allison, spoke up.

"What is it Allison?"

"Umm" Allison looked bashful for a second as she finally got out, "why were you staring so hard at that child back there?" It was the first time she's seen Dr. Evergreen take so much time with a baby and not do anything but look at them.

She got no answer as Evergreen relived that past minute or so with the new born and made a conclusion.

"Uhh you don't need to-" Evergreen cut her off.

"No it was nothing, the birthing must have me made more tired than I thought I'm going to lay down for a second let me know if they need anything." He proceeded to his room to lay down leaving Allison in the main living room. After closing the door Evergreen's mind started to wander and he couldn't stop thinking about the boy and the sheer intelligence in his eye. No matter what the Roman Catholic Church said he was a man of science first and foremost but his eyes, those eyes did not belong on a newborn child. No sooner when the good Doctor's thoughts started straying off conventional thinking did he hear the loud healthy cry of a newborn and that brought him a smile. 'What in god's name am I thinking about there no such things evil spirits or devils, I really need some rest.' Evergreen closed his eyes for a second the sound of the crying baby oddly putting him at peace.

* * *

**10 minutes earlier**

Maddie looked at the small and frail baby in her arms and was entranced. 'This is my son, this is my boy.' The thought brought a small smile to her weary state but that happiness quickly turned to worry over the boy's current quietness. 'Something's wrong. Why isn't her crying? Is he hurt? Can he breathe properly? Is he disappointed that I'm his mother...' Maddie's train of thought became more and more outlandish as she worried over her newborn son before she was brought back to reality by her husband.

"Maddie." She looked up at her husband as he looked at her with a sly grin on his face obviously knowing her imagination was working against her again as she had a tendency to do.

Maddie blushed at the look. "Stop looking at me like that…." She mumbled.

All she got was a light chuckle from Mason which made her blush harder. "Everything's fine Maddie, our boy is here in your arms safe and sound and healthy there's no need to worry." Her husband's voice successfully calmed her down but she still couldn't help but ask.

"Then why isn't he crying? Isn't that what all babies do?"

"I don't know Maddie." Mason admitted. "but does that really matter right now?"

Maddie looked down at the boy one more time before smiling and saying with certainty. "No, no not really." She hugged the boy closer to her chest and it was in that moment the baby's eyes opened and looked right into his mother's.

"Well hello there." Maddie spoke softly

The baby just looked at Maddie for a while before looking to Mason, who gave a goofy smile to no effect and around the room once before landing right back to Maddie warm gaze.

"Wonder what he's thinking about." Mason commented

"I know."

"Really? Then what was is he thinking about?" Her husband asked

"Why what else he can't help but be shocked and happy he has such a beautiful mother!" Maddie said with vigor and narcissism.

Mason just gave a blank stare to his wife and the boy in her arm also mimicked his look.

"Okay….how would he even know what beautiful means though?" Her husband couldn't help but ask.

"He just knows!" Maddie with a blush on her face

"Yeah bu-"

The baby chose this time to cry his lungs out finally signaling the world that he was here. The cry brought a smile to the fathers face while the mother also ecstatic quickly comforted the child.

"Shh, shhhh its okay. I'm here everything's okay you don't need to be afraid." That did little to quiet the crying baby if anything it made him cry louder.

"Hahaha now that's a good pair of lungs he's got on him." Mason's smiling face looked down on his son. "Told everything was fine he just need a second to prepare himself."

Maddie just gave her husband a light humph before swaying the crying baby and giving calming words.

Mason took this time to get back to the fields before sundown to get the rest of the crops he missed; he gave Maddie a light kiss before kissing the top of his son's head and headed out.

30 minutes passed after Mason left for work and her son was now quiet, all cried out of tears and softly breathing in her arms. Doctor Evergreen took this time to walk back into the room to check on his patient. He smiled at how protective Maddie was with her child even when she herself was nodding off.

"Hello Maddie how are you feeling?"

"Tired, fulfilled, happy…I'm feeling a lot of things right now Doctor."

"Fair enough, anyway you and your child are healthy and clean. I see no reason why you need to worry beside of course the blood loss." Evergreen gave his diagnoses and gave her to okay "Just try not to do any hard labor for the next month or so and try to eat more fish, green vegetables, and if possible some meat."

Maddie just nodded to everything Doctor Evergreen's suggested, he was the only doctor in the village after all and he supposedly went to medical school in central Europe so everyone respected the man.

"Name." Maddie looked up at the doctor with a puzzled face.

"What's his name?" The Doctor smiled at the confused woman

"Oh..." Maddie quickly gained a look of realization before saying "Pierce."

"It's a nice name."

"I know."

Maddie turned to baby boy now named Pierce and stated. Pierce continued to look blankly into space as if in deep thought and Maddie couldn't help but ask once more.

"Doctor, are you sure there's nothing wrong with my son?"

Evergreen stopped at the question and the more superstitious side of his mind reared its ugly head saying how a newborn shouldn't have such a reaction right out the womb, how well timed or sorrowful that cry was, or even how quiet Pierce was currently being without actually sleeping. All these things pasted through Evergreen's mind and they were right Maddie's son was nothing like all the other children he's had to deliver. Yet when he saw her worried face all that came out was "your son is fine Maddie you should give him breast milk soon he will get hungry." With that Doctor Evergreen left the room once more.

Seeing him leave Maddie just laid there with her son letting sleep slowly take with the last thought going through her mind being "I wonder what he's thinking about so much". Her mind thinking of ideas of what that could be from regular hazy new born baby thoughts to the incredibly ridiculous.

"Eggs, butter, and milk." Were Pierce's current thoughts

Maddie never even came close.

* * *

And done.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Eggs, Butter, and Milk**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD no matter how many times I tell myself I do, though the OC's are mine. Mine I tell you!

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It was cool midday as the farmers worked in the fields and heralded the animals, woman could be seen walking along in the village looking through the small market, and children could be seen playing tag or soldier. In a modest yet large wooden house, a woman could be seen sleeping dead tired from just giving birth to her son, Pierce. Little Pierce could be seen on the side in a small bed made for newborns and wrapped in a small blanket. The Nurse, Allison, came in when the mother was sleeping to check on the baby and with no small amount amusement had to pry the baby from the mothers hen like grip. After lying the young babe down she made for the next room over though the way the baby never reacted to her picking him up even though he was obviously awake unsettled her Allison quickly put it out of her mind, there was work to be done.

"…Still if I didn't know better I would have thought he was deep in thought about something..." Allison couldn't help but think that Little Pierce's expression was out of place on a baby's face.

The poor nurse would have never realized she was quite on the money with that theory and he was indeed thinking about something.

"Eggs, butter, and milk…." Little Pierce was currently saying those four words like a mantra inside his head, not a combination a normal newborn would ever think of.

Except Little Pierce wasn't a normal newborn.

My name is Dakin Baron Morgan

Cool name right? My friends used to say it belonged on some badass super-villain or anti-hero; I couldn't help but agree with them.

See here's the thing, I'm not a newborn, I mean I am but with the soul of a 22-year old nerd.

Yeah let me back track a little.

* * *

**1 Hour Ago**

I was born into a normal household, my dad was a plumber, my mom a high school teacher (the fun type she always used to say) and I had three sisters. My life was as ordinary as you could get I went through a fun and embarrassing childhood, graduated from high school and got a job, fought with my parents and sisters on miscellaneous stuff and we'd make up and watch TV. Had friends who were assholes but ultimately had my back and we play video games and talk about stupid stuff for hours and get nothing productive done. It was a plain life and with my pragmatic attitude it wasn't going to get any more exciting…and I was perfectly fine and content with that. I liked my life, I liked my friends and my job, and I loved my family and I wouldn't have it any other way.

So that's the thing I guy like me, a completely unremarkable guy, a guy who is like tens of millions of others, statistics show that the most likely way I'm going to die is in my bed, a quiet and calm end for an ordinary man. I was not meant to go out in a fiery blaze of glory that's so flashy Buggy from One Piece would approve. Here's the kicker…..that's exactly how I went, sans the glory.

Here I am minding my own business crossing the street, I also had the light so let's not irrationally blame the city light system, then from nowhere a large gunfire like pop rings out and a gas truck spirals out of control right towards a car that was passing me and ramming it right into me. The car slam sent me reeling to the ground and from the pain in my right arm and the pounding in my head I wasn't in good shape. When the white spots from the pain subsided I could see from the corner of my eye that the gas truck was tipped over….and the gasoline was pouring into the street right over to me. I jumped to my feet and tried to run but have you ever tried running with damaged arm and a probable concussion? I would have laughed by the way my sense of balance was completely messed up if I didn't fall right into the gasoline and slide closer to the truck. Any hesitation I had for getting up didn't matter the next second as all of saw was a blinding yellow and searing pain that made me ready to scream and then….nothing, just black.

I died, no glory but definitely enough fiery.

When I was born and was looking at the doctor I just thought I was in the hospital and my perception was really messed up from whatever surgery I went through not to mention my loss of feeling, well everywhere. I had no idea it was because my body was just born and its sense's were as undeveloped as you can get. When the woman spoke up and I was placed in her arms I finally had a sense of my size and my brains couldn't keep make sense of it. When the Doctor left the woman and man just kept talking and when terms like "boy", "mother" and "babies" were thrown out there my brain finally caught up with the situation and what I had seen so far sunk in.

'B-but that's crazy! I-I'm 22, these aren't my mother and father, and I was just in an a-accident!' My mind was trying its best to make sense of the situation and bring me some semblance of peace but none came before I slowly accepted the facts.

'I-I died. I was reborn. M-my past life is behind me. I'm not 22 anymore. I-I'm not Dakin anymore. I don't have my job anymore, I'm never going to hang out or play video games with my friends anymore, or argue with my sisters, or go out to eat with my dad, or make my coffee for my mom, or hug her when I come home, or or or….' My thoughts died there and I did what any self-respecting adult in a newborn body would do when they found out their life is over.

I cried my heart out.

For a very long time, about thirty minutes or so.

So after crying a river of tears I eventually came to accept the situation as real cause in none of my past dreams lucid or otherwise was this realistic and heartbreaking. So after watching my new "mother" (wow that was going to be weird getting used to) slowly nod off I got to thinking and that's when the nurse came in and checked on me. I think I freaked her out with how pensive my stare was but it's not like I can help it though, I got thinks to work out right about now. So after shuffling a little to get a more comfortable position I quickly thought over my situation one more time and got to a reasonable and constructive conclusion.

'This is going to blow so hard.' I let out weary sigh that really didn't belong on my current appearance. I had no aspiration that growing up from 1 day old was going to be fun, none at all. I've read plenty of reincarnation light novels and fan fictions and all the good ones had the same idea when it coming to growing up from a toddler, it sucks. Not to mention the glaringly obvious, there's no guarantee I was born in another world. I may have been born in the same modern world I came from and I liked my first life enough thank you very much whatever cosmic being or god that put me here. Even if I was born in another world it may not even be one I know a lot stuff about, or could be absolute shit like an apocalypse is just around the corner because humans are fighting against a hostile race like One Punch-Man with all the monsters everywhere or The Walking Dead.

'Ughhhhhh! I really hate those reincarnation fanfics that the moment the Mc is born they know exactly where they are, what year it is, and have a full proof plan to a safe, happy life just coming out their ass! Why couldn't it'd be that easy for me! Cause I ain't getting squat from anything in here!?' I was starting to get stressed over the whole situation before I finally took a break from brainstorming and looked over to my sleeping "mother".

'That poor woman' I couldn't help this thought coming to my mind. 'She went through nine months of pregnancy, then childbirth, and was so happy to see me in her arms her smile almost split her face.' I wasn't exaggerating, I've seen my birth videos (yeah my parents were one of those people) and the sheer joy the woman in the bed showed when she held me blew my mothers and fathers reaction to my original birth right out of the water.

'And she got an abomination for it.' I had no doubt in my mind that I wasn't natural. A 22-year soul doesn't just pop into a newborn's body and there's the can of worms in the form of… 'What happened to the original body's soul?' That was going to weigh on my mind for a while and I don't know if that could be considered murder or not. 'Can't kill what was never born.' A dark, cynical part of my mind dropped that thought. 'Oh good god I'm going to hell. I'm going to hell and I deserve it.' Yeah sure a group could argue I had no control over what happened and how I got here. Doesn't change the fact that I'm here and not a blank slate this woman deserves that she can mold to be the human she wants to be and give and receive unconditional love.

'Haaaa….hehe I'm what 2 hours old and I'm already psychological as hell.' I gave a wry smile to that.

The Nurse came back in the next moment and walked over to me, picking me up.

"Did you sleep well?" It took me a second to realize she wasn't talking to me but my "mom" who just woke up.

"Yes, I still feel a little tired but I'm alright." My mother's loving gaze never left my face.

'Why does that make me feel worse than better?' I thought helplessly as I squirmed under that look.

The Nurse though my restlessness was cause I was hungry so she recommended giving me some breast milk. If I had any control over my neck it would have snapped to the Nurse and then proceed to shake left and right violently. Though, unfortunately, I couldn't so I was given to my mother who proceeded to take out one breast and say "open wide." Groaning as the breast continued to reach my face I let myself go to fate and just accepted my new position in existence.

Do you know what the biggest kick to the balls in all this is? It actually comes back to why eggs, butter, and milk were the first things my semi-rational calm mind after crying came up with. Its cause these items, these three everyday necessitates, it was because of these things that I died.

They were why I crossed the street that day, why was I hit by a car, blown up, and why I'm now a newborn getting fed by my "mother".

I died cause I ran out of eggs, butter, and milk.

'Yeah….some higher power out there hates me.'

* * *

And done.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Oh I Have Superpowers….Wait I Have Superpowers!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I think it's awesome enough to make a fan fiction about it so here we are, and my dream is for one day Ichiei to use my OC's in his story. One day.

* * *

**7 Months Later**

'I hate it when I'm right...' I found myself sighing once more

Growing up was a pain, in both the physical sense and the psychological way. Growing pains were a sensation I had no fond memory of back in my past life and I finally get why, its hurts like a right bitch every damn day! No one wonder babies constantly cry for no reason, we're crying in pain people! Then there is the whole I'm a baby so I shouldn't understand anything that is going on around me but I do and it's become a topic of the town and how aware I 'am of everything going on.

'Humph, even in the early day's gossip groups exist.' I thought mindfully

I honestly didn't know what time period I was in but it wasn't the modern day I was sure of that. One thing that supported this was that everyone used an old form of pounds to sell and buy things; another would be how the town guards (under the leadership of the mayor) carried muskets and sabers. So I was somewhere in early Europe which would explain why everyone spoke English and the majorly white population. It was a pretty small town and it would take you at most an hour or 2 to explore the markets, shops, and public areas to see everything. I also found out that my mother, Maddie, was a seamstress who had costumers all over town and my father, Mason, was a simple crop farmer.

"Boo!" Maddie chose this moment to pop out the corner she was hiding making me jump slightly. I slowly turned to the odd woman who I now considered my mother and just stared. We spent a good minute or two in silence before a grin slowly appeared on her face.

"No reaction even today huh?" Maddie asked

"Humph, close but no cigar." I said in a dismissive tone. Well I tried to but all that came out of my underdeveloped mouth was baby babble.

"Hahaha." Maddie laughed all the same as if she understood my intentions before scooping me up and putting me in a basket on her back. She gathered all the things she needed for the day (money, a smaller hand basket, a sun hat, etc.) before turning to me and asking "ready?"

"Yessir." Baby babble was her answer.

Smiling once more she opened the door and we were greeted with the sun low in the sky blanketing the Earth in an orange haze. Crop farmers were hard at work in the fields with animal farmers moving their cattle and livestock, wives and kids walking along the path to the communal water well and to see what the local market had to offer. Maddie greeted the other wives who she knew personally and offered help whenever they seemed to be struggling with their morning chores. My mother was a kind one, always eager to help those who seem in need; if I wasn't here her child would have grown up to be good man surely.

'Easy there it's too early for depressing thoughts.' I tried to banish the cynical thoughts plaguing my mind.

"Hi Amie, how are you? Your morning going alright?" Maddie walked up to a brown haired woman with a little girl.

"Oh hi Maddie, hmmm!" The woman called Amie pulled the bucket of water she was struggling with right out the well and took a breather. "Yeah can't say it's been too bad, I just wish Harold didn't forget to get the water again."

"Oh sorry about that Mason needed his help moving the excess of crops that sprouted this season, it's been quite a fruitful harvest." Maddie apologized for her husband.

"Its fine I was just feeling lazy don't mention it." Amie waved away her concerns.

Amie chose this moment to look at me and I stared right back into the woman's eyes. For a time I tried to act my supposed age, I tried not making expressions for everything, and react how a baby would to people and things in general. 'Yeah nope sorry this isn't working out.' Not even 3 months into my new life I was ready to give up and try my chances in the next one. 'I'd probably end up in another baby's body.' I just couldn't play with wooden toys for longer than 10 minutes before putting them down and contemplating life. Then there were the play dates with the neighbor's babies and that just went swimmingly. I would just stare at them for the better part of an hour since I couldn't talk, they wouldn't understand me even if I could, or just mess with them by either poking them making them giggle or wrestling with them but even that was limited thanks to my undeveloped motor functions and stubby limps. The diaper changes were also something I slowly got used to like breast feeding (I made it my mission however to come off uncomfortable about it even though it wasn't half bad). Overall, it was mind numbly boring being a baby and I was really starting to envy those reincarnates that got put into a body that a least pasted puberty, I really did. The silver lining was that I had a lot of time to think as a baby and I was coming to terms with the fact that I may never get my life I had as Dakin Morgan back, so I've been taking to the name Pierce more often than not, it was slow but it was progress. Anyway, after acting however I liked rumors started flying around the community on the incredibly outlandish and eccentric baby that can look into your soul with just a glance. While my mom and dad didn't really care about what others thought of me (mom just said they were jealous that she had such a genius child!) superstition like that spread fast and quickly a large portion of the town became uncomfortable in my presence, oh well they're loss!

"….Still with the piercing glare every time we meet huh? Is it my face?" Amie was part of the minority that wasn't scared of me. 'Scared cause a child looks at you funny? This town is full of idiots.'

"I don't glare, I keep respectful eye contact." Baby babble ensued

That got a small chuckle from the two mothers and a curious look from the little girl peeking from behind Amie's back.

"And who's this little cutie?" Maddie asked crouching to eye level with the little girl who ducked back behind cover.

The little girl blushed and squirmed before peeking out again and blurting out a faint "Rachel." Maddie and even I gave a small smile to girl's actions, though on my face it looked unnatural.

"This is my niece I've been keeping an eye on her until her father gets back from the army."

"The army?" Maddie frowned at that tidbit of information. "Who are they fighting now?"

"My brother didn't give much information but it's apparently to quell unrest in the Earl of Desmonds domain." Amie told what she knew. "Though he seemed more annoyed than worried, he kept going on and on about how they didn't learn the first time."

While Maddie seemed curious over Amie's words she quickly said farewell and made her way to the open market where many foreign merchants came through because the town was next to the main road that cuts through the majority of England's territories. Maddie brought me everyday to the market since I turned 2 months old and in the 5 months that I've been through here I have seen pretty much everything they had to offer. Thankfully at some point my mother picked up on how uncomfortable breast feeding made me and chose to buy cow milk to feed me…..after throwing a tantrum on how her son doesn't love her breast milk anymore. Buying a gallon of cow milk like she does every week Maddie also bought different pieces of cloth for her work, fresh vegetables, fruits, and a saw for Mason (he's picked up carpentry as a hobby). Maddie soon spotted an odd sight, a man in robes and heavy cloth, with jug's that held powder one colored red, another orange, and the last an odd brown.

"What are these?" Maddie asked the strange man

"Spices." was all the man said.

Quirking a brow she stared at the man than back down at the jugs before deciding to move on…..that was the plan at least until she felt a bonk from the back of her head and turned to look at me. Knowing I couldn't talk or signal with my hands because they were currently constrained in the carrying basket, I did the next best thing. I looked at Maddie, then at the jugs, then back to Maddie. 5 times.

'Jesus woman! It's not rocket science!' I screamed internally as I got ready to motion a 6th time but it was unnecessary.

'Does he want me to look at these…powders?' Maddie, used to her son's weirdness, chose to play along and got closer to the jugs.

My gaze was focused on the jugs of powders and when I got a whiff I knew what I was looking at. 'Paprika, Turmeric, and….is that Oregano?' The reason I was so interested in these spices was because I've only ever seen my mom use salt and basil in anything she and his dad ate. It wasn't something incredible or anything like that but it was rare and to the incredibly bored 22-year old soul trapped within the 7 month olds body anything new was interesting.

"How much are these?" Maddie asked after seeing her son's reaction

"…4 pounds for all." The man offered

Maddie frowned at that while I nodded along, while the jugs weren't huge they could definitely last a good couple of months. Maddie hesitated before sticking her finger in the sample plate of the spices and couldn't help but perk up at the tingling on her tongue.

'Odd, but not bad.' Thinking it over for a little Maddie eventually paid the man, picked up the jugs, and made for home.

When we got back it was mid-day and we saw Mason taking a rest on the porch smiling as he saw his wife with his son walk up.

"Hey." Maddie said softly

"Hi." Mason returned with a goofy grin

They gave each other a slow but passionate kiss and didn't separate for a while. I couldn't help but admire their relationship, they knew each other better then they probably knew themselves and they always seem so happy together. I rarely see them fight and if they do it's either cause of mom's over protectiveness of me or dad's mischievous side comes out to play. Or both.

"Hey sport." Speaking of mischief

Dad picked me up from mom's back basket as he held me up.

"Still with the tough guy act?" Dad questioned

I just stared at my father and having an idea of where this was going just gave a cheeky smirk.

"Oh?" Dad's eyes gained a fire to them

Mom took this time to walk back outside after putting all her stuff inside the house. "Honey what are you doing-oh god!"

He chucked me high in the air, not high enough to be dangerous but enough for it to take a second for me to start falling back down, right into his arms. Giggles escaped me almost instantly and my dad was about to join in the laughter….instead he was smacked upside the head by Maddie.

"Are you crazy!? What if you dropped him!?" She was pissed

"I wasn't going to." Mason defended

"Yeah, he wasn't going to." I backed him up with some babble

"Quiet!" Maddie was having none of it

It quickly became a 15 minute lesson on how incredibly dangerous (not really) and stupid (read fun) that was and at the end of it Dad retreated back to the fields since his break was over and my mom placing me in the living with a bunch of toys so she can get to sewing in her room. After awhile they learned that they can keep me alone in a room by myself and it'd be fine, I'd cry if I really needed them.

'Alright what do I have to work with here?' I looked at the toys in front of me and after 10 minutes I eventually chose to go with plan B.

'Look out into empty space and daydream it is.' With the amount of times I went with plan B, I should really just start calling it plan A.

As I stewed there thinking about the last seven months, I only had one thing to say. 'I can't even be upset anymore.' Born in a peaceful, relatively nice town. Having enough food and warmth to get by comfortably. A mother and father who love me unconditionally no matter how quirky and odd I 'am. If the reincarnation route was a lottery I can honestly say I hit the jackpot, no matter what anyone says. Sure I miss my friends and family I "left" behind but this life is more than making up for any depression I had. I was happy.

It was then an odd sensation washed over me and I knew I was in for another round of something I liked to call Zen mode. You know when you're in class and your teacher is so painfully boring that your brain has no choice but to unconsciously zone out and you blank out for the rest of it? That's basically what Zen mode was and lately, like a 2 weeks ago, I learned to actively control when I want to go into this mode,the result of 7 months of doing absolutely nothing but sitting in place and trying to zone out. I let my mind clear itself as I sat there unmoving, like a statue, and this was usually the point time goes by without me noticing because I'm not thinking of anything like a semi-sleep, not awake but not sleeping.

'Wait.' I noticed something. '….What is that?'

I looked for where the strange feeling was coming from and after 5 seconds I found it. It was a small, white, and clear ball. It didn't physically exist, not in the room I was in at least; no it was….inside of me? Next thing I knew, I was sucked into my subconscious and I ended up in a pitch black space. With a clear white ball floating in front of me. The ball was actually as large as me now that I got a good look at it and it felt so incredibly familiar like I knew it was here the whole time, except I had no idea where this was. My eyes roamed the black space until they finally landed back on the ball; I also noticed that I was standing (is it because I'm in my mind?). I slowly raised my right baby arm, lightly reaching towards the ball and when I met air even though I was clearly touching the ball I proceeded to plunge my whole arm inside, all the way to my shoulder blade. I waited a second…..I waited some more…..nothing happened.

"Well that was anti climat-"I didn't get to finish as the white ball turned into a stream and started flowing into my arm and I came back to the present. I immediately looked down at my right arm and froze. My right arm….it was glowing. As I took a closer look I realized that a thick white see though aura was covering my entire right arm in a protective matter. I tried squeezing my hand and there was no resistance and I tried moving my arm and there was no hindrance there either…This was weird. This was very weird. As my mind tried to make sense of why my arm suddenly became a white glow stick after having some weird day dream, a logical answer never arrived. After staring at my arm for an unknown amount of time, my left hand finally started reaching for my right arm, to see if that white light was actually there. It never got the chance as the aura disappeared, leaving me wondering what happened before heavy fatigue hit me and I passed out.

'What the fu-' was my last coherent thought.

* * *

**An Unknown Amount of Time Later**

I woke up groggy and after the initial haze past I found myself in my room, the sun set and moonlight seeped through the window.

"Look whose up." Maddie's voice spoke up from the chair next to my bed, she was reading a book.

I turned my now clear gaze towards my mother before "feeling" a problem. I was hungry. No, I was starving.

As if knowing what I was thinking my mom put down her book and picked me up, bringing me over to the feeding chair.

"It's a bit late but you never did get your day milk so…" Maddie picked up a bottle and brought it to my lips

As if I just came from crossing the desert and hadn't seen water for days, I chugged the milk and emptied it in 5 minutes flat. Maddie, while surprised at my vigor, picked up another bottle as I was still hungry. That bottle didn't last very long either. It was only after emptying my third bottle that I stopped, feeling satisfied. Maddie lifted me up to her eye level and spoke.

"Well someone was hungry." My mom was unfazed by my unusual hunger. "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, thank you." Which just came out as a loud burp that shot right into her face.

"Hahaha." That gave Maddie a good laugh and she kissed me on the nose before placing me back in bed tucking me in.

"Sweet dreams." Maddie made for the door right after to go to bed. She and Dad stopped trying to lull me to sleep as I never went to bed with them in the room.

I stared at the door for a minute before sitting up and remembering what happened earlier.

'Did that really happen? Or was it some weird hallucination?' I didn't know if what happened was real or not but I did know how to find out. Looking down at my hand's, I closed my eyes and tried to imagine that place again, a pitch black space with a white floating ball. When I opened them I was back there with the white ball floating harmlessly in front of me.

'Wait….did it get bigger?' It did, it was minor increase but it was there.

Remembering how this went last time I hesitated before steeling my resolve. I slowly brought both hands to the ball and touched it, keeping my hands on the surface not going any deeper. Like last time the white ball turned into a stream but unlike the first time I had some semblance of control, it slowly trickled into my hands. I opened my eyes and stared down at my hands. They were glowing in a clear white aura. Taking a deep breath I calm downed my heart and observed the light. It was warm and pleasant, like being wrapped in mittens. I also noticed how my stamina was slowly decreasing as time passed and I didn't have much time as the aura was slowly becoming thinner so I looked around my bed trying to find anything to test this on. My gaze landed on a metal ball the size of a grown man's fist, it was something my mom bought for me to play with as it had many intricate symbols on it and it was made of iron and tin. I picked it up and put it between my two tiny baby hands and squeezed. It immediately deformed and seeing how it didn't hurt I got to squeezing it again and again, until the metal ball that was at least 4 inches became nothing more than a half an inch scrap of metal.

The white aura faded completely once I finished my action and fatigue hit me once again, just not enough to make me pass out like last time. I fell back into my bed, breathe labored and stared at the scrap metal, something no normal "grown" adult could have been able to do with their bare hands since it was made of iron and tin but I did. I, a 7 month old baby, crushed a metal ball into scarp with my bare hands. A single thought entered my mind that I thought I would never have the privilege of thinking.

'I have superpowers….' I laid there in a daze before a smile slowly appeared that threatened to split my face in two. 'Holy Shit…..I have superpowers!'

"Hehe.." I chuckled. "hehehehe.." I laughed some more. "Hahahahahahahahha!" Until I was laughing my heart out into the night.

Ask Pierce and he'll tell you it was a laugh of triumph and manly celebration. Ask his parents and they'll tell you the house was filled with the bell like laughter of an incredibly happy child.

* * *

And done.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: As the Years Went By**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and no one believes me since my story is so damn good! Their words not mine but the OC's do belong to me.

* * *

**5 Years Later**

The sun was high in the sky shining over the Earth in its ever encompassing warm glow. Red deer were running out in the fields in herds as birds flew over the green meadow. On the hill overlooking it all sat a young boy, who couldn't be another older than 6. He had short shaggy black hair, a thin but not overly so physique, with a round face. The boy had no real defining features except maybe the way his eye shined with intelligence and wisdom far older than his years allowed.

'Yeah that sounds about right.' I took a deep breath as I relaxed on a stump over the clearing. Two bags rested next to me and if one were take a look inside they would find the dozen or so bodies of game I hunted today, from rabbits to hares and even some foxes. The other bag contained a 100 or so metal pellets that I personally formed from the scrap metal I found laying around. The only reason I wasn't hunting red deer today was because I hunted 5 yesterday and mom already salted them and placed them in storage (which was just a large wooden box that was insolated with animal hide).

'This should be enough for today.' I looked over my game and decided that I hunted enough

"Time to go bac-oh?" I noticed a lone boar in the distance about 50 meters or so from my position. Wild boar was always in high demand even to the traveling merchants that stopped at the small town. Not to mention this boar was big and fat, it's probably been living across the river where the majority of hunters don't go because it's too much of a hassle to get around. Not questioning how the boar got past the deep river I quickly chose my next course of action.

"Well, since God so graciously gave me this opportunity I'd be stupid to waste it." I reached into the bag full of metal pellets and took one out.

Placing my thumb nail against the middle of my pointer finger and placing a single pellet there, I took aim at the boar. Calling on my Chi (that's what I started calling the white aura) I quickly sent a small amount to my two fingers coating them both in white light along with the pellet.

"Annnddd…..bang." Flicking the pellet towards the stationary boar, It instantly became a blur and soft shrieking sound was heard as it travelled through the air. The boar, hearing the sound, turned towards the source but it was too late to dodge. The pellet pierced the boar's forehead, shredding its brain, and then proceeded to shoot right out the back of its head falling to the ground. The boar, dying instantly, swayed for a second before falling sideways into the grass, next to the bloody pellet.

"Bull's-eye." I smiled at my accuracy

Getting to my feet I grabbed both bags walked over to the boar's corpse, quickly giving thanks, and began skinning the animal.

"Urghh…I still get a bit squeamish when it comes to this." My face scrunched up when I opened the boar's belly to bleed it out. Let it be known that no matter how much experience you have cutting up meat in your kitchen it pales in comparison to hunting down your dinner and skinning it personally. I threw up the first time I brought home a kill and skinned it.

'It was a freaking rabbit too of all things.' I blushed at the less than stellar memory. 'Dad couldn't stop laughing after that.' I smiled remembering how mom proceeded to kick dad's ass for laughing so hard.

"ha…hahaha… worth it." Was what my dad said after the beating

Fond memory aside, after bleeding the boar I picked it up and carried it to the river to clean it. Digging out the internal organs (keeping the heart and kidneys) I thoroughly washed the inside of the boar, storing the bones in my game bag, and picked up the corpse placing it on my shoulders. Making sure I didn't forget anything I poured Chi into my feet and took off into a sprint. The surroundings in my vision moved quickly, like I was inside a car driving fast and after running a path that would take a normal person 30 minutes to complete in 5, I made it back home. Walking up to my house, sweating up a storm from what can be considered my daily run, I tried to open the door but my mom beat me to it.

"Welcome home!" My mom gave me a crushing hug ignoring my sweat to which I smiled and responded "I'm home."

"Did you have a good hunt?" Not seeing the boar because I left it on the lawn, I brought my mom outside to see it.

"Ooohhh!" Maddie's eyes lit up to the fat boar on her lawn and after looking over it once she turned and started checking me for injuries.

"Mom I'm fine." I gave a wry but refreshing smile to my mother's actions. 'I'm been hunting for 5 months already, she worries too much.'

"Just making sure. Lord knows you'd get injured and then you'd try to hide it so I wouldn't worry." Maddie gave a very reasonable argument that sounds exactly like something I would do.

"I'd tell you." Not that I'd ever say that out loud

Giving a 'humph' to my bare faced lie Maddie grabbed my game bag while I heaved the boar that was twice my size up to the kitchen's skinning table (Mason made it when I brought back my first red deer). While I cut up the small game my mom got to work on the boar; she was better at it anyway. Applying Chi to the dull kitchen knife to make it sharper, I cut the meat of the small animals while thinking about the past 5 years. When I found out that I could use Chi that night I practically smiled for the better part of a month. I had freaking superpowers and a good one if all the things I could do with it was evidence. An aura that increased my strength, speed, and durability depending on how much Chi I was currently using. Amplifying the performance of any tools from a knife (making it sharper) to a metal pellet (making it as hard as steel). I could even use Chi to alleviate any discomfort my body had, one thought and I had a refreshing stream of Chi coursing through my body working out any kinks. Of course I couldn't do all these things at first and it took a lot of practice, a lot of it painful, before I got to this point. The large amount of Chi I had now was thanks me to using it every day and exercising it like a muscle. Though it came with the side affect that I got incredibly hungry after using too much Chi and I soon started eating my weight in food. I haven't gotten into any hardcore training yet mainly because I was too young and that would only stunt my growth later on, magical life energy or otherwise.

'But man that is one creepy coincidence.' I looked down the knife I was cutting with and into its reflective surface. Looking back was a plain face with an equally average stare. It looked identical to my face in my past life as Dakin. Then again my father's features were vaguely similar to my old dad. Shaggy hair like mine with hints of gray, a broad back that made him look bigger than he was (he was 5'8) and an ever present silly smile.

'Why couldn't I get good looks this time around huh? Is that so much to ask!?' I ranted internally as I continued to cut up the meat. After finishing, I turned to watch my mother work and felt the injustice of it all. 'Why couldn't I get her looks?' Maddie wasn't drop dead gorgeous or anything like that but she was pretty in her own right. A small oval face, high cheekbones, long eyelashes, and soft skin that never seemed to get rough no matter how much work she does. 'At least I got the hair.' Mine and mom's hair was lush and soft and we never needed more than a single brush to be ready for the day.

"I'm home!" Dad came home

"Welcome home." I gave my dad a man hug (well his legs anyway since that's all I can reach) before he turned towards my mom.

"I'm back."

"I can see that."

Dad hit a cold wall. His smile never left his face though as he crept forward.

"Are you still upset?"

A bang was heard as mom cut the meat much harder now. Yeah she was upset. Apparently, Dad forgot their anniversary and this was the first time it's ever happened so she's not taking it well.

"I didn't forget Maddie."

"Humph!" She didn't believe him

Sitting down on the side to watch the love comedy unfold, I started wishing I had some popcorn.

"Really. It just took longer to make than I thought it would." Then Mason walked into the next room

"…" Maddie looked at where Mason went and slowly tilted her head to peek. She quickly turned back to the chopping board when she heard him coming back. He wheeled something into the kitchen. It was a handmade weaving station.

"…" Mom was silent for a different reason now

Dad apparently started working on it when mom's original weaving table broke. He got help from the local head carpenter when they threw it out. That was months ago.

'5 points to house Dad.' I idly thought

Mom walked up to the table and started looking it over, playing with the mechanisms. They worked quite well. She turned to face Mason; his goofy smile ever present on his face.

"…I'm sorry." Maddie blushed at her earlier behavior

"It's fine." Mason didn't really care

They looked at each other for a second before kissing.

"No, I'll make it up to you." Maddie added after separating

"Oh really?" Mason's smiled changed. "Cause I have an idea on how you can mend my wounded heart."

"Humph, what heart?" Maddie snorted at his act before smiling and pressing herself against Mason.

The tender kiss from before was gone and now they were practically trying to suck each other's mouths off. Mason lifted Maddie so she was sitting on the weaving table and she in turn started fondling Mason all over. Articles of clothing started coming off and things started to get more and more heated to the point…..where they completely forgot that I was still in the room.

Watching my mom and dad go at it (and seeing that they weren't planning on stopping) I calmly got up, walked though the side door leading outside, and did what any logical person would do when they see their parent's love comedy turn R-rated. Pour as much Chi as superhumanly possible into my legs and run like hell till dinner. They weren't finished by dinner.

* * *

**7 Years Later**

A loud cluster of noises could be heard within a large wooden house on the out skirts of town, muffled groans and huffs could be heard from within a large room as an old man and young boy faced each other with practice swords in their hands.

"Haa!" The boy lunged at the older man, sword aiming for his throat

The old man nimbly side stepped the attack and countered with a low sword swipe to the boy's chest. The boy blocked the attack and then responded with a sword swipe of his own. It continued this way for awhile, they would swipe, thrust, or chop at each other trying to land a hit. Only difference being was that while the old man kept calm the younger man was getting increasingly agitated and finally made a mistake taking a blow to the side of his head.

"Dead." The old man said in a jolly voice that did not fit his stern looking face

"Damn it." I said softly before thanking the old man for another sword lesson

"Don't mention it kid, you being here makes this old man feel young again hahaha." The old man said

"There also the fact I give you free food." I added with a cheeky smile

"Hehe, that too." The old man, known as Dylan, replied and went to sit down as I put away the practice swords and went to clean his house a little.

Watching Pierce work, old man Dylan couldn't help feeling nostalgic but also bitter. His son died in the last Desmond Rebellion and he didn't leave behind a child with Dylan's wife dying long ago from a heart attack. Watching Pierce move about was making him consider adoption but he knew he was getting weaker and couldn't take care of a child. Dylan could only sigh in sadness knowing he was never going to see his own grandchildren.

'Poor guy.' I had to give it to the old man, he had no family left and he can still be so jolly all the time. This moment of lament was actually rare and few. It was kind of funny how I met him, I was chasing this particularly annoying elk two years ago and I didn't shoot the pellet at its head since my dad wanted it's antlers to make something and I didn't have the confidence not to damage them if I went for the head. So I chose to put 5 pellets in its ribcage hoping to shred its heart, it didn't work. So here I 'am chasing this thing for 20 minutes over many hills and ridges waiting for it to bleed out (it held on for a pretty long time all things considered). So when it finally died I was so ecstatic I uttered a quick "thanks" and immediately got to work skinning it. I didn't realize I was in someone's back yard and Dylan chose a very interesting way to help me realize that. By pointing a musket at my head. In his defense it was pouring that day and I was wearing a thick cloak to protect me from the rain (the rain was why I couldn't just use Chi to enhance my senses to get a perfect shot. Imagine getting enhanced hearing, smell, and sight in a downpour; yeah it wasn't a pleasant experience). Even if he did shoot I would have just used Chi Aura to protect myself from the bullet but thankfully it never got to that. He invited me inside his house so I didn't have to skin the elk in the rain and I accepted the offer. It was through this that I was able to find out Dylan's name and how he used to be head captain for a pretty important noble in London and that he was quite skilled with the sword. He also helped me skin the elk so I made him an offer, He teaches me how to use a sword and I'll personally hunt large game for him every week. Dylan, finding no problem with it, agreed and that was that. Granted I could easily beat the old man if I used Chi but I reframed from doing that since I wanted to gain real proficiency with a sword.

"Alright old man I'll be off now." I chose to call it a day

"Hold on." Dylan stopped me and headed to the back of his house

Waiting a bit for Dylan to get back, he returned with two long wooden boxes. Setting them down on the table he proceeded to open one revealing a one handed steel sword that looked really sharp and expensive.

"Wow….it's impressive." I gave my honest opinion. "This doesn't happen to be the part where you say I'm your greatest student and want me to continue your life's goal to reach the pinnacle of the sword?"

"Like hell." Dylan responded with a loud snort

"Yeah I figured as much." I wasn't bothered by that though. "So why are you showing me this?" I had to ask

"It's a prize." He simply said

'Okay now I'm really not following.' I was getting more confused but I didn't wait long before Dylan explained himself.

"Your quick with a sword kid, your no genius but you definitely have what it takes to get far." Dylan gave his assessment of my talent with the sword and it was his honest to God opinion. Two years of working with me and he's only ever received dedication, patience, and respect (most of the time). I wasn't spectacular with the sword like some of his students were back in the day but I was good. So he chose to reward me for his efforts and dangle a future prize for further incentive. Dylan opened the other box and a less expensive but still nice looking steel sword was shown. "This is yours."

Quirking a brow, I looked down at the sword in the box and slowly grasped the handle and pulled it up. 'Good balance. Is this a shark skin handle? Nice.' I placed my pointer finger along the edge. 'It's sharp!' I bled immediately but I channeled some _Chi_ to the cut and it was quickly healed the next second, the old man didn't notice. "It's a good sword. Whose is it?" I noticed the wear on the grip and assumed it was used a lot before.

"It was my son's." was Dylan's answer

Eyes widening I quickly placed the sword back in the box and pushed it towards Dylan. "I can't take this old man."

"Yes you will." He pushed the box right back

"Dylan…."

"Oh using my name now are you?" Dylan chuckled at my reaction before picking the box up and shoving it into my chest. "I want you to have this kid. I know my son wouldn't want it collecting dust in some old man's closet. So just take it, as a favor for me okay?"

I had no words. I looked down at the box and back at the smiling Dylan before steeling my resolve. "I'll use it well." Conviction laced in every word

"You better or I'll hunt you down personally you hear?" Dylan gave a hearty laugh

Pierce's talent wasn't the only reason Dylan gave him his son's sword, it was also because of his kindness. Many times Pierce would come over and help clean his house, or give him food his mother made, or just to talk and he would patiently listen to the old man go on and on about the battles he's been a part of and the adventures he's had. Dylan has even been invited over for dinner and Pierce introduced Dylan to his parents. It was one of the better evenings Dylan has had in a long time even when Pierce and his father, Mason, had to hold back his mother after he was introduced as his swordsmanship instructor. 'How dare you corrupt my innocent son by teaching him to use such evil things!' That memory brought a small smile to the aged face.

"Alright, now get out because I don't know about you but this old man needs his sleep."

"Wha-" Dylan gave me the sword's sheath and started pushing me out the door.

"Wait! Hold on I still need t-" I was already out the house and Dylan was closing the door.

"See you Monday kid." The door shut with that

Left outside I stared at the door, than at the box in my hand, then back at the door. Soon collecting myself I gave a deep, respectful bow to Dylan's house and made the trek back home. The box in my hands containing the sword felt especially heavy even though I've easily carried far heavier before. I never noticed the old man watching me walk away from his window, a fond smile on his face.

When I got home that day and showed the sword to my parents it took all my persuasive power and even a portion of Chi to hold my mom back from taking the sword to Dylan's house and shoving it where the sun don't shine.

"He's corrupting your young mind I'm telling you! Swords are evil you hear me!? Evil!" My mom really didn't like swords and my dad was too busy laughing his ass off to be of any help.

I slept with the sword next to me that night; it was a particularly restful one.

* * *

And done.


	5. Chapter 4

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Flameclawsxx: **An insane family who's 6 years old has Freaking Superpowers! But no being serious with _Chi_ Pierce is stronger than any animal in that forest and his parents couldn't stop him from going, they've tried. He also made the pellets himself by crushing pieces of metal that he found lying around. Besides this is a fan fiction about an anime, I like incorporating bits of common sense into the story but too much of it and it stops being fun.

**Viscides: **Thanks man, this is actually the first time I'm ever doing this and I hope I continue making chapters that entertains you as much as the last one did.

* * *

**Chapter 4: From One Freak of Nature to Another**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and I never will….okay there I said it so stop pointing that gun at my head! We all know who the OC's belong to though. (Hint: It's me)

* * *

**3 Years Later**

Pierce sat in a lotus position deep in the woods; a waterfall was serenely falling behind him as he went into Zen Mode. Pierce could feel it all; the grass flowing in the wind, the insects under and over ground, animals running or hiding in the woods, I could see them all as bright auras and anything else that had life in a 10 kilometer radius was completely exposed under his Chi Vision. Pierce found out how to do this roughly 1 year ago when he was bored.

'The only time I ever find new and incredible things is when I'm bored, why is that?' I was really tempted to hit myself when I finally decided to pour Chi into my brain after all this time. Looking back, the main reason why I didn't want to pour Chi into such a sensitive and crucial part my body was because I didn't want to risk damaging it, until I realized something. Chi is life-force, energy that flows through every single part of my body, especially the brain. It took me 14 years to realize that.

'I'm an idiot.' With the self- chastisement out the way my 14 year old self slowly poured Chi to the brain and something interesting happened. My frontal lobe, in the Hindu religion often called the Mind's Eye, responded to the Chi and I was suddenly able to "see". I was in my room when I saw the different auras in my house and I recognized each one. I could see my mom in the next room humming while she fixed a dress on her weaving station, my dad was busy building a new wagon for the neighbor, and I could even see the auras of the flowers my mom planted and took care of in the front yard. I could feel all their emotion's, Mom was happy, Dad was focused, and the flowers were…..content (Mom did take real good care of them so it made sense). I also noticed another aura that I didn't recognize outside of the house and it felt….sad and in pain. Making my way outside I finally saw that it was a cow that made it up the path and was lying on the grass, I walked towards it.

"Hey girl." I crouched to get a better look. "You alright?"

The cow gave a small huff before laying her head against the grass, its breath was labored. Placing a hand on the cow's hide I used Chi Vision again and I found the problem, it was sick and whatever it had it was slowly eating away at its life-force. It was subtle but it was there. Taking a look at the cow's dead eyes I took a breath and tried something I was meaning to test for a long time. The hand that I placed on the cow lit up with Chi and I slowly poured some into the cow. My offered Chi, now belonging to the cow, seemed to attack the sickness plaguing the cow as it wiped some of it away but it wasn't enough. Ecstatic at the discovery I continued giving more and more of my Chi to the cow and after 10 or so minutes the sickness was completely gone. The cow lifted its head once more and stared at me after I stopped.

"Feeling better?" The cow responded my licking my right cheek drenching it in saliva. I laughed.

"You…" I didn't know when but someone was standing next to me and the cow and as I turned I saw who it was , it was Amie, who saw everything that I just did with the cow. 'Oh shit.' I started sweating.

Amie stared at me for a minute, than at the cow, than back to me. I had nothing. I mean what can I tell her? "Oh that? That was just me healing the cow with mystical life energy that I learned to control since I was 7 months old." I was half tempted to tell her that just to see how she would react but I stopped myself. Amie eventually walked up to the cow and the cow turned to face Amie. She ran her hand over the cow's head and it licked her hand. Amie smiled.

"Now there's a perfectly-" I started the conversation

"Thank you." Amie finished it

Being a man of great composure, I blurted out a quick "Huh?" Amie took out a rope and tied it around the cow's neck to lead back to her shed. "I said thank you."

"Wha…" I was on a roll

"It would be pretty ungrateful of me if I revealed your secret after you just healed my cow." Amie gave her reason; apparently she was out that day to take the cow to the town vet. Giving a smile she added. "I knew you were a weird kid anyway this just means I was right." Amie started walking home with the cow in hand

I watched her walk away and all that came to his mind was. 'Damn…that was really cool.'

"What happened?" Mason chose this time to come out and saw Amie walking away

Still looking at Amie, I answered my dad. "I helped her out."

Mason, raising a brow at my vague answer, soon smiled and rubbed my head. "That's my boy! Taking after your mother now are you?"

"Sure…"

"Well since your free help me out, I need someone to lift the wagon while I screw on the wheel." My dad walked back inside and I quickly followed.

Since then I learned that I can pour Chi into different living beings for all kinds of effects. I can make flowers bloom if their dying, I can heal minor wounds like the cuts of others if I focus hard enough (I mainly tried that on animals), I could even send Chi in small amounts inside anyone and control the _Chi_ I sent inside. I found out that last bit when I chose to give my Dad a massage after a particularly hard day in the field. With Chi Vision I could see where his life-force was pressured (basically where he's tense) and poured a minute amount of Chi inside him and massaged the muscles that were in pain under the skin. Mason fell asleep in 10 minutes flat, with a silly smile on his face, and he was slightly drooling. When Mason woke up he looked 5 years younger and his small slouch that he always had disappeared. When Maddie asked Mason what he did Dad started going on about how heavenly my massage was, I blushed a little at that. I soon gave my mom one and she loved every second of it, bragging to her friends about it. It quickly got around town that I gave massage's that made all your worries go away and people started asking me to give them one. Even Dylan asked for one (something about old bones needing treatment). Having so many guine- I mean clients to work with I quickly got to trying new and interesting ways to maneuver my _Chi_ through living beings. It got so hectic that I eventually had to limit the number of massages I give a day (about 20). That's actually why I was out today, to get away from the noise and to try out a new technique.

"This looks good." I stopped in front of a massive boulder; it was 12 feet high and would take 6 grown men holding hands to completely surround it. Forming a fist I channeled my _Chi_ and my fist started glowing.

"Hah!" Giving a low shout I threw a punch at the boulder, a small wind picking up from the sheer force.

When the fist impacted the boulder, besides a small shockwave, nothing happened. Withdrawing my hand, I stared at the boulder before reaching out with a palm and pushed. The boulder exploded from the inside and fell down into hundreds of pieces.

'Nice!' I gave a wide grin to the smashed rock.

I learned that while I can send Chi inside someone's body to heal and comfort them, I could also use it to take them apart from the inside. I called it Seismic Fist (cause internal damage fist just sounded lame). Closing my eyes for a second I quickly went inside my subconscious and returned to the black space with the white ball I found all those years ago. Only difference being was that the white ball was now as large as a house and it shined like a miniature sun. Looking at the fruits of my labor of the past 15 years a shit eating grin appeared on my face and then I left the space.

Seeing the Sun high in the sky I thought there was still time to do some hunting before I got home. Picking another spot than my usual hunting grounds, I slung my hunting bag over my shoulder, tightened my sword holster around my waist and headed east.

* * *

**20 Minutes Later**

'Something's wrong…' There were no animals. Not just that, there were no insects' or birds either. 'But I just sensed a ton of them awhile ago, what happened?' Ever since I started walking east the activity of the forest just kept dropping until I couldn't feel any life at all, beside the trees and foliage. I noticed the steady decline but I assumed it was just because I was passing by the town's local hunting area, large groups of animals typically avoided this area after so much hunting was done here, but even after passing the hunting zone activity didn't pick up.

"I don't like this." I was getting a little freaked out but I was also curious so I activated Chi Vision and that's when I found "It". Here's the thing, with Chi Vision I could see the life of any living creature in a 10 kilometers radius but that's when I'm consciously doing it. My passive range that's always up and alerts me to life is about 80 meters…...and the "It" was standing 100 meters away, right outside my passive range. Slowly turning towards the unknown being I finally got a good look and my eyes widened. Slowly getting my guard up as the "It" walked towards me I had an idea of what I was looking at. I only had one response.

"Oh…

* * *

**Same Time, Mayor's House**

Two men were playing chess in a large room, many trinkets and animal pelts were hanging on the walls giving the room a novel appearance. The man winning, known across town as Doctor Miles Evergreen, was encroaching on his opponents king as Miles took out another knight. His opponent, his older brother and Mayor of the small town Eric Evergreen, was sweating trying to save what little pieces he still had. "God damn it!" By his soft cursing you could tell he had nothing.

"Checkmate." Mile's cornered Eric's king

"…well damn." Eric gave a soft sigh and smiled as his brother. "Well played."

"You went easy on me." Miles smiled thinking nothing of it. "Another game?"

"Sure let me just get some water, you want anything?" Miles shook his head as he rearranged the board.

Walking over to the water pitcher Eric Evergreen couldn't help the pride surging up in his chest as he looked out the window at his small town. It wasn't a great city like London or Chichester but the small town had its own charm and he was proud of it. When his father gave him the title of Mayor all those years ago he thought it would be hell running this town. 'I was right for a time.' Still Eric ran this town with honor, respect, and etiquette that pleased even some passing nobles and he hoped it made his dad in heaven proud. A loud bang was heard, bringing Eric out of his musings, and he turned to the door now wide open. A scout named Boyd was breathing heavily and was drenched in sweat, hands on his knees trying his best not to fall down. Eric gave a concerned look.

"Boyd? Is everything alri-"

"Tyrant…" Boyd interrupted Eric as he breathlessly said one word

Eric tensed up at the word and Miles took this time to come out and see what the commotion was.

"What's going on?"

"ha…ha…the Tyrant…..I saw the Mountain Tyrant…..I just saw the Mountain Tyrant! It was going east in the forest!" Boyd fell on his butt after finishing his report

"The Tyrant!?" Miles blood went cold at the mention of that title and turned toward his brother

Eric didn't react to Mile's reaction; all he heard was Mountain Tyrant and distant memories started coming back to him.

A cold rainy day as 20 strong able men with muskets and steel sabers walked through the dark forest.

A beast so huge it defied reason with speed not befitting its size. Grown men yelling out in fear and despair as the musket bullets failed to penetrate its thick hide and the top of the line sabers breaking against its sheer muscle. 2 men made it back that night, Eric and his father who successfully sent the beast away, at the cost of dying from his injuries 5 days later. That monster was back.

"Eric!" Miles brought his brother back to reality

Eric looked at Miles, than at Boyd (who looked terrified), and then finally at the distant forest that supposedly contained the beast. Like a true leader, Mayor Eric summed up the situation with one concise word.

…Shit."

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

It was a black bear.

It was big, black bear and no, I wasn't trying to be funny.

This thing was massive. Just by walking I could feel the ground quake with every step it took and when it got closer I could see the muscle it was packing, that wasn't just really thick fur. Its eyes shined with creepy red light that didn't belong on any normal bear.

'What deep, dark, holy hell did you crawl out of?' This thing was a freak of nature...not that I had any right to talk but still.

"So, you're the Mountain Tyrant?" I remembered mom and dad talking about a behemoth like bear that terrorized the small town 20 years ago before the last mayor chased it away. 'If this thing in front of me isn't that bear than I really don't want to meet the real thing.' From the hostility the Tyrant was sending my way and the low growl from saying its title I can safely assume this is that beast.

I had to hold back a wince after probing it with Chi Vision. It was overflowing with life energy, I figured since it was around 20 years ago since it came here it would have gotten older and weaker. Nope, this thing looked ready to live another hundred years and still be ready to take on the world. As we stared at each other a faint memory from my past life bubbled up to the surface.

"_Hey Dakin check this out." I paused the video game that I was playing and turned to face his friend._

"_What?"_

"_The Arctotherium angustidens, often called the South American short-faced bear, was the largest bear species to ever exist with the last known sightings stopping around 1879!" My friend got more passionate as he kept talking._

_Giving him a bored look, I gave a quick "cool" and turned back to my game. _

"_Hey man I'm serious take a look at this." He padded me on the shoulder and sat next to me, a laptop on his lap. An article was on the screen about a large bear being hunted down by some Southern warlord. "This guy" My friend pointed at the warlord. "Took 20 of his best hunters and 40 of his strongest soldiers and went to hunt down this thing." Now I was paying attention._

"_Isn't that a bit excessive?" I pointed out the obvious_

"_You'd be right except…." My friend clicked to the next page. "After finding the bear they proceeded to chase it down for miles on end, the warlord ended up losing 17 hunters and 35 of his soldiers!" I gulped at those numbers._

"_You're kidding." He shook his head_

"_Nope. After losing so many men the bear was finally taken down and was stuffed as a personal exhibit for the warlord. Apparently it was 3.6 meters long, 200 cm tall, and weighed 1,900 kilograms!" My friend started getting passionate again before giving a small sigh. "It's truly a shame that it's dead." _

_Whipping my head around to stare at my friend as if he's crazy I asked. "How the hell is it a shame that something like that is dead?" _

"_Isn't it obvious? That bear was a king! It was a one of a kind predator that towered over all the bears in history and it was beautiful! Until some jerk off with a hunting fetish killed it, stuffed it, and placed it in his room like a damn trophy. How is that not a shame?" _

"…_you have an odd sense of beauty you know that?" I gave my friend a pitying gaze_

"_I know but I also know I'm right about this." _

"_Whatever, I'm just glad I never have to see something like that." I pitied the fool that had to fight something like that _

"_Yeah." He agreed with ne. "I know I wouldn't last a minute against that thing."_

"_A minute? I wouldn't last 10 seconds!" _

"_hahaha, yeah we wouldn't stand chance huh?" My friend made a wistful look before lifting his can of beer. "To never having to face something like that in battle."_

"_I'll drink to that." Clicking our beers together, we proceeded to chug them and laughed at the thought of ever facing a monster like that. _

Poetic irony is a real bitch when you're on the receiving end.

'Now I know some higher power is messing with me.' The real gut punch in all of this? The bear that warlord hunted has nothing on the Tyrant in front of me.

This thing was at least 4 meters long, easily 300 cm high, and God knows how heavy (the quakes it was making said enough).

The Tyrant and I looked at each other, neither moving as if to wait for the other do something. Seeing nothing was happening I started it off.

"Wonderful weather we're hav-" The Tyrant lunged at me far faster then something that size should move. Quickly applying Chi Aura I side stepped the attack and the beast landed where I was and its sheer weight cause a huge crater easily 10 meters wide. I gulped hard. 'I'm really glad I listened to my instincts telling me not run. That starting speed is unreal.'

"Woah!" I ducked under a swipe from its claws and then rolled to the side as another tried to flatten me.

Everywhere the claws landed destruction was the result. A tree shattered there, a boulder pulverized there; even attacks that landed on the ground left huge claws marks. I constantly kept moving, just one hit lands on me even with Chi Aura and I'll be in bad shape. After a particularly heavy attack landed and missed I saw an opportunity. I unsheathed my sword ,applying Chi, leaped over the follow up attack and made a deep cut on the Tyrant's shoulders…that bleed for 2 seconds before its muscle closed up, stopping the bleeding.

"Oh you've got to me kidding me!" The Tyrant seemly enraged from the cut leaped at me and the battle continued. We kept moving (well I kept dodging) and the surroundings quickly became different and the battle started heating up. It was easy at first, wait, dodge, attack. I assumed that enough cuts and it will eventually bleed out even with all its muscle. He underestimated the Tyrant's intelligence. After giving it a particularly bad cut on its leg that it couldn't fully close up it gave an enraged attack, but it was actually a feint and I fell for it. I was rewarded with deep claw shaped wounds on my shoulder.

"Arghhhh!" Screaming in pain, I quickly sent my Chi to my shoulder to run damage control. I healed what I could but it became harder to dodge and the Tyrant knew that if the increased speed with its attacks were any indicator. It was an uphill battle from there. I continued slashing the beast with my sword leaving countless bloody marks on its body but it also got lucky 2 times when the white flashes of pain from my shoulder became too much and broke my concentration.

"Oh fuck you!" Leaning back as the Tyrant tried to bite my head off I poured a large amount of Chi into my sword's tip and pierced the top of the bear's head. It stopped short of its skull and the sword got lodged in its steel like muscles.

'Okay now that's just ridiculous.' I lamented as the Tyrant reared its head back and staying true to Dylan's teachings when the sword went up, since it was firmly stuck in the bears head, I was taken along for the ride as I refused to let go. Flipping over I found myself on top of the Tyrant's bloodied back and tried to pull out the sword to no avail. The beast didn't seem to enjoy the fact that I was on its back and so started going crazy jumping and flaying about trying to fling me off. The great battle between two freaks of nature quickly became a show starring the world's angriest bull and the world's stupidest looking rodeo clown.

'Don't throw up. Don't throw up. Don't throw up. Don't throw-hrg!' I didn't throw up cause I was busy being fling dozens of meters away when my sword finally decided to dislodged itself. Right into the cold river and I quickly swam out.

'We were nowhere near a river when this started!' I took a big gulp of air as I rested for a second, the cold water waking up my hazy mind. Tyrant jumped into the river causing rocks, water, and dirt to fly in every direction on its landing forcing me to shield myself from the debris. Before I could dodge it rammed into me sending flying through multiple trees and making me leave a long dirt trail. Nothing broke because I was able to use a large amount of _Chi_ to cushion the shoulder charge but my wounds still got aggravated. Gritting my teeth I looked up at the bear as it strutted over nonchalantly to me, the look on its bloodied face showed arrogance, pride, and…disdain. All directed at me.

"Oh hell no." Rage building up inside, I poured Chi into my arms picked up one of the broken trees that I was flung through and swung it like a massive bat. Nailing it right in the Tyrant's face…..which just shattered the tree, made the Tyrant lean its head back slightly, and shoot me a face that seemed to say "really?"

"...You know what, we may have gotten off on the wrong foot. You want to start over and talk this through?" An enraged lunge was my answer

* * *

**Back in Town**

The town and it residents were in a panic and for a good reason, The Mountain Tyrant. Everyone knew the story and they've all seen the evidence of it 20 years ago when 16 wives became widowed (some of the men weren't married) and the mayor's position was passed down. After the current mayor, Eric Evergreen, announced that the Mountain Tyrant was back many people started to get worried. Eric didn't want to panic the people but he had no choice, the Tyrant was another level of monster that very few could stand up against. He needed his people ready to defend their home…or at least be ready to run like hell if the worst comes true. Many young able men and even women wanted to take up arms to protect their homes and Eric welcomed any who wanted to fight the beast. He also sent Boyd with a letter of help to London and some money but he didn't have much confidence he'll be back in time. 'He's a good kid; at least he'll be far away from here when this all goes down.' These were Eric's thoughts.

In a wooden house in town, 2 incredibly worried parents heard the news and were taking it in very different ways. The woman started putting on cooking utensils like pieces of armor and was holding a large butcher knife in one hand and a pitchfork in the other while the man…..was trying his best to stop his wife's insane idea.

"Let me go Mason! I need to go save my baby boy!" Maddies gone mad

Mason gave a wry smile to his wife. "Honey please be serious-"

"I am serious!" Maddie's tone turned hysterical. "Our son is out there with an unstoppable "thing" from hell and we have to do something!" Mason turned quiet at that

"I know he's different." Maddie started again. "I know he can do things that make no sense, I know he has thoughts no kid his age should have, and I know it's probable that he's completely fine and on his way home safe and sound as we speak…." Maddie's eyes took a turn. "But he's my son! I can't be calm knowing he's out there alone, so I need to…..I need to…." Maddie's breathing started picking up and she looked ready to have a panic attack before a voice spoke up.

"I'll go get him." Dylan at some point got to their door and stood there watching them. The mother and father pair turned towards Dylan.

"...I'm going with you." Mason chose this moment to speak up

"Okay." Dylan knew this wasn't up for discussion and started walking out

"What? No, wait! I'm going t-" Mason stopped Maddie at the door and said strongly. "No." There was no room for argument in his voice. "You need to be here so if Pierce gets back than he'll have you here at least." Maddie couldn't find a reason against doing that. Mason smiled softly and gave his wife a soft kiss. "I'll bring our son home." Maddie watched him run to catch up with Dylan.

"You don't need to hide it you know? If you're worried for your son then show it." Dylan gave Mason advice

"I can't."

"Why not?" Dylan asked curious

"Cause if I start showing my worry than Maddie will never let me live it down." Mason tried giving his trademarked goofy smile. It looked more miserable than anything. Dylan quickly stopped Mason.

"I know that kid. He's made of really stern stuff; honestly I'm more afraid of the kid finding the Mountain Tyrant and not leaving enough for everyone else." That brought a small smile to the proud fathers face. "Don't worry so much, that kid's probably okay."

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

"...I am not okay at all..." I opened my eyes as I sat against a cliff's wall. The Tyrant leaned against a large tree bleeding from the many cuts littering its body but the main damage was its head as it was bleeding from every orifice. That was the result from taking a _Seismic Fist_ to the face and it staggered instantly. I dropped my guard when I saw no response from the bear and life taught me a painful lesson for doing so. The bear swiped my left side, which was completely unprotected, with its huge paw sending me flying; my arm dislocated as my internal organs were jumbled up. I puked a large amount of blood and was ready to pass out once I landed. Collecting myself I snapped my arm back in place (not the first time doing so since I had to something similar when I was experimenting with my Chi) ignoring the white flash of pain, and my Chi went into overdrive mending my torn muscles and placing my organs back in their original positions (man that felt really uncomfortable). Looking around I finally saw the war-zone that was our battle, we started somewhere a couple miles east and I saw the trail of destruction the Tyrant caused. 'It's like a bulldozer went through here.' The river long lost its original shape, countless trees and craters littered the ground. I looked at my opponent as we both used this moment to collect our breathes and I had to respect the damn thing. After taking one _Seismic Fist_ the Tyrant made it its mission to not take another. So the hit and run tactic was quickly used by both sides and here we are.

"I should have never gotten out of bed today." I started regretting my choice of actions today, my muscles in my left arm were shredded with Chi barley holding it together, my internal organs were still very much in pain, and all the cuts over my body started making themselves known. All in all...

"I'm over it." I staggered to my feet looking to end this whole shit show. The Tyrant seemed of the same mind as it faced me, determination shining bright in its eyes. 'Or is that still disdain? Kinda hard to tell with all the blood.'

Staring at each other for a second, we both lunged forward the Tyrant lifted its paw high in the air and Chi coated my right arm. I had a plan, a very stupid plan, but a plan none the less. Winding my fist back I tried to dodge the claw but failed miserably. Long, deep claw marks scarred my chest and I fell to my knees and the Chi in my right arm faded. The Tyrant seeing all this relaxed for a single second, a second was all I needed. Its funny how things come full circle isn't it? Rushing to my feet, ignoring the searing pain and blood loss, my fist connected with the beast's face and my Chi entered its head. I finally saw with my Chi what happened. My first Seismic Fist just shattered its skull but its brain was still intact if not very bloody from the bone shrapnel. This thing fought that hard and for all this time with a shattered skull?!

'And it was kicking my ass.' Giving a wry smile I proceeded to shred the bear's brain, ending its life and winning this death match.

I let out a long sigh seeing the Tyrant's life force quickly fade and disappear completely before it dropped to the ground never to get back up.

"90 percent…" That's how much of my Chi I used in this fight and the rest was doing its best to stop the bleeding, well everywhere. I just looked down at the bear and saw its bloodied eyes staring up into mine.

"Heh…seems I was the bigger freak…" I laid down against the bear's corpse and slowly drifted off to sleep, Chi going on auto pilot mending my injury riddled body.

* * *

**Several Hours Later**

The Tyrant hunting team went into the forest and was shocked at what they found an area in the forest that was completely totaled, everything was a mess and it led westward. For a while the team just followed the path of destruction and the more they saw the more they started doubting their chances against the beast. 'Can we even kill something that can do all this with bullets and swords?' No, the answer was no. Eric knew that personally. He was planning to just take a peek of the beast and if a reasonable plan was brought forth they'd do it but he wasn't holding his breath.

'Still what was it fighting that it would cause all this destruction?'

A certain father in the group had an idea of who after finding his son's hunting bag at the beginning of the carnage.

'No, there's no way. Pierce can do a lot but he can't win against this.' That thought brought a chill to Mason's heart. 'No, that's not true. He could still be safe. He can still beat something like this…..right?' Mason never realized the group stopped as they all looked ahead at the figured walking towards them. Mason was too deep in thought and kept walking. 'Oh God no. What am I going to tell Maddie? What are we going to do? What am I going to….' His musings ended there and he finally looked up and came face to face with his son. Carrying a massive black furred figure on his back and a dead tired smile on his face.

"Hey dad, sorry I know it's late but I got caught up." Mason just stared at his son.

"I hope you like bea-" Before giving him a crushing hug and bursting into tears of pure relief.

* * *

And done. This was actually the first fight scene I've ever done. Was it good? Was it bad? I got a bit carried away with the writing but any criticism, constructive or otherwise, is welcome. Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	6. Chapter 5

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**JustAnotherFan217**: I know right? Ichiei put so much effort into DxD and put so many different races in his work but most fanfics revolve around Angels, Devils, and/or Fallen angels. I know they are the main races in the story and there is a shit ton of them but diversity is the spice of life!

**SoftItalic**: Yes it was. I tried to think of a beast that defied reason and make Pierce face a being that showed this world he's in isn't all fun and games.

**Gamingwonderez**: You'll see how in this chapter

* * *

**Chapter 5: In the Right World at the Wrong Time**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD I'm not creative enough to make something like that but OC's? That I can do. I mean I created all the OC's in this story so…yeah that was me.

* * *

**1 Year Later**

"982…983…984…985." A shirtless young man was currently doing push-ups in a grass clearing, a large boulder easily weighing 5 tons resting on his back as he went up and down. The irony of doing such anime style training was not lost on the young man but with no weights anywhere he made do with what he could find.

'993…there's also the fact that there are no weights to be found in town…994…even after asking the passing merchants…995…apparently weights can only be bought by nobility and their guards…996…which is bullshit considering the Greeks made sure it spread to many areas both near and far…997…nobility sucks…' I grumbled through my exercise about the injustice of it all.

"…1,000." Exhaling deeply, Ishrugged the heavy boulder off stretching as I stood up, my back making gross but refreshing popping sounds.

"That's the stuff." I gave a sigh of contentment as my workout for the day was done, my body aching all over as I did training no normal man should ever try. Running 5 miles on end and back with a boulder tied to my back, 1,000 squats, pushups, sits up, and 1 hour blanks with an even heavier boulder on my back. Pierce was no health nut in his past life so he didn't really know what workout routine would help him best to get stronger, he only knew the basics.

'It works well enough so I'm not going to stress about it.' Chi coursed through my body giving nutrients to my muscles, making them stronger. I finally started getting into some heavy duty training after healing from the fight with the Tyrant 1 year ago. My mom's face when I came home that day with the Tyrant on my back was mix between shock, relief, and a bit of rage. She was happy I was safe (if the smothering hug was any indicator) but she was also mad that I actually fought against such a monster by myself. "I mean look at you! You're body is riddled with wounds and- oh my god! What happened to your arm!?" Safe to say my mom grounded me for a month in my room with even my dad heavily agreeing with her. Not that I was going to complain, my body was a mess. Everything for a month after hurt, every movement I made sent jolts of pain up my spine and I passed out a couple times (adrenaline really helps dull pain when you're in a fight).

'Anime protagonists that appear perfectly fine after a really hard fight are bullshit!' It was only thanks to Chi supplying my damaged body with nourishment that I healed all that damage in less than 3 weeks. Except, that came with the added side effect of my already large appetite becoming humongous. The Tyrant's meat helped with my speedy recovery, it was easily the tastiest meat I've ever had and it gave my body all the protein it needed to recover stronger than ever.

'I just wished my mom chose not to give half of it away.' I sighed remembering my mother's actions. Don't get me wrong, when she gave some to Dylan and Amie I didn't mind, it was when she gave it away to the other unknown town's people that it bothered me. Sure, the bear was massive and even with my appetite it would have gone bad before we could ever finish it all but I still didn't like it.

"Good morning!" A random town's person with a happy face said good morning

"Good morning." I politely said good morning back, this continued for awhile, all the way till I got back home.

"Hypocrites." I slammed the door behind me. People tried to give me gifts like fresh apples and pears or others tried to ask hunting tips from the "Tyrant Hunter". I remember a time where a large majority of the small town was uncomfortable just being in my presence and I wasn't talking about when I was a baby. All the way till I turned 15 rumors never stopped circulating about the other worldly boy that can do unnatural things. Hunting when he was 6, advanced sword training when he was 12, and giving supernatural massages when 14 (that last one didn't really scare people and actually brought them to try it out). Still at the end of the day I was kind of a pariah in the town, no one ever did anything (they wouldn't have gotten far if they tried), but I was still given a wide birth where ever I went. I was fine with that, the people who cared about me like mom, dad, Dylan, and even our neighbors never tried to distance themselves and that was all I needed. Then the Tyrant came and things changed.

"A hero?" I gave a loud snort. "Yeah, no thanks." People around town started to think I was some great hero for stopping the Mountain Tyrant from reaching town. They were right, to an extent. If that thing would have made it to town there would have been a bloodbath and when that crossed my mind I was really glad I stayed and fought. I didn't care for the town residents, but the thought of the Tyrant reaching my mom and dad…A shiver ran down my spine.

I went into the bathroom and took off my clothes to take a quick bath. After filling the tub with water I proceeded to lay in it, scrubbing myself clean with old school looking soap. 'God I miss modern plumbing.' I laid back in the tub dreaming of how nice it would be to take a hot bath under a shower head again. It was stupid really. I fought the Tyrant since I didn't think I could escape if I ran, not because I wanted to save this town. I was no hero. Hero's care for the common man and try their best to save everyone in need. I don't care for any of that, as long as the people I care about are happy and safe, well the world can burn for all I gave a damn. Cold I know, but it's not like I would just step aside while some messed up stuff is happening. If I could help someone I will but if I can't, I'm not going to lose sleep over it (though with my mom's personality she'll want to save everyone around her, even strangers). Besides, while the town's people now respected me there's a good portion of fear in their eyes now. Before it was shallow, superficial fear stemming from rumors and theories. Now? They know what I'm capable of and they are trying their best to stay on my good side.

"Hypocrites and cowards." I rose from the tub, quickly wrapping a towel around my waist, and I stood in front of a flattened piece of shiny copper that acted as a mirror. A passing merchant sold it to my mom, it was in pretty good condition and while murky you could still see yourself. My face was as ordinary as ever (I wasn't one of those people that became handsomer as they grew older unfortunately) but my body however…

"Eat your heart out Statham." I started making poses in front of the reflective surface and admired the way my muscle's bulged. I didn't have a body builder's physique but more of an Olympic swimmer's body. I was lanky with clothes on but man was every part of my body chiseled muscle underneath. 'I don't know if it's because I always use Chi or because of my training routine but honestly, I can't bring myself to care.' I continued admiring my body in a very narcissistic way and only turned when I felt a life force near the door. My mom was looking at me doing poses with a bored look in her eyes. She wasn't impressed.

"Are you having fun?" was all she asked.

I stared at my mom as I stood frozen in the last pose I was doing. I blinked. I blinked again. Then turned back to the mirror and continued making poses. "Good morning mother."

"Good morning...are you not going to stop?"

"Is it so wrong for a man to admire his body that he put great effort into?"

"No, it's not." Maddie started rubbing her temple. "That is if said person doesn't do it every damn morning!" I had to blush a little at that but come on, I was a God!

My mom promptly kicked me out the bathroom to take her own bath and I only rolled my eyes finding nothing wrong with what I did. Looking down, I saw the three claw shaped scars on my chest the Tyrant gave me back then. The rest of the cuts disappeared thanks to Chi but the 3 deep ones on my chest survived as pretty gruesome scars.

'Oh well, it's not like anyone's going to see them. Besides, scars are every man's romance!' I off handily thought this as I went to my room and put on some clothes. Dylan was in the living room when he came out (he was coming here a lot after the Tyrant event) and my dad was happy to have him around since Dylan helped him with any projects he had and I obviously didn't mind. My mom was the problem, she still didn't like swords. 'Even after I explained to her it was because I did that sword training that I survived as long as I did against the Tyrant.'

"It must have been truly incredible." Dylan made a comment about the Tyrant's pelt now being used as a rug. "Every time I see it I could only image its majestic presence, why don't you ever talk about the battle?"

Remembering the whole fight as if it was yesterday and remembering how I got my ass handed to me the majority of the "great" battle, I sweated a little, scratched the back of my head and mumbled a quick "I have my reasons." Thankfully that conversation ended there.

"Alright then." Dylan dropped it. "So...have you convinced her yet?" For him to bring up another tricky question.

"Ughhhh..." A groan was my response

"Pierce…"

"No, don't Pierce me. You try talking an incredibly overprotective mother into letting her son go out into the world to explore!" I tried. I really did. But every time I brought it up she acted like an 8 year whose parent's told her she was going to the dentist. She avoided the topic like a plague or threw a tantrum if the conversation wasn't dropped. My dad wasn't a problem, he knew this small town wasn't enough to satisfy my curiosity and after killing the Tyrant he saw no problem with my safety either (he joked that if something like the Tyrant couldn't kill me than he pitied any bandits that tried their luck).

"Look I love my mother, I do. She's the best and she sure as hell can go for mother of the year." I gave my honest opinion after my 16 years of life. "But this is getting ridiculous!"

"I don't know what to tell you kid, I got nothing sorry." Dylan gave me his sympathy

Slumping back into a chair, I just looked up and sighed. 'I get where she's coming from not to mention in this time period.' I knew a long time ago what year it was (I asked when I turned 5) and I learned I was born on 1580. The year was now 1596 and I nearly lost it when I realized just how far away I was from my past life. I eventually got over it since I busy training my Chi or just hanging out with my parents. 'I miss junk food though, and TV, and manga, and anime, and hot showers, and-'

"Pierce." Dylan brought me back from my musings

"What?" I saw that he placed a wooden box on the table. I quickly put the pieces together and opened the box. The sharp and expensive looking sword he showed me all those years ago was in front of me again.

"It's yours now." I looked at Dylan after he said this

"But I haven't beaten you with a sword yet." Even after killing the Tyrant, in terms of sword handling I was still beat by the old man.

"I said it was a prize, I never specified what you needed to do to earn it." The old man explained. "And I think you've more than earned the blade, especially if you plan to go out into the world."

I stared at the sword, its shiny steel surface reflecting the light in a way that was quite pleasing to the eye. I was ecstatic, this was a quality sword and I had no complaints...until I saw the first sword the old man gave me laying on the side. Picking up the sword I used against the Tyrant, I calmly made a decision.

"No thanks." My voice didn't waver

Dylan only smiled and asked. "Why?"

"I'm not done with this sword yet. I'd like to keep using it if it's all the same to you." I liked it. It did its job and it did it well. There was also some sentimentality attached to it too, so there was that. From the satisfied look on Dylan's face he was proud of my decision.

"Hahaha, good choice kid. Damn good choice." He closed the box and put it to the side.

"Where did you get that sword anyway old man?" I was curious of the sword's origins though, it looked really high end.

"Oh that? It was a gift from Queen Elizabeth after serving the throne for close to a decade." Dylan dropped that bombshell.

"...I'm sorry?" I thought I heard wrong but when Dylan made no motion to correct himself I started sweating.

"Wait, as in Queen Elizabeth of England? The Bloody Mary? The Virgin Queen?...um can I see that sword aga-. Wait, where are you going? Where are you taking that? W-wait hold on I just want to take one more look, that's all I swear!" I chased after Dylan who made his exit with the queen given sword, my original sword left on the table looking incredibly lonely.

* * *

**2 Days Later**

I walked through town with my mother and was browsing the market seeing if anything was worth buying. After buying a couple of things Maddie went home to get ready for her romantic dinner with Mason (it was their anniversary again) and I continued to explore the market.

"What is going on over there?" I saw a large and expensive carriage parked near the town's entrance, the mayor and some bald fat guy were talking. He must have been important if the way the mayor kept a straight face as the luxuriously clothed fat man spit everywhere as he talked. I was going to keep walking but when the carriage opened and another man walked out I stopped in my tracks. The man was handsome, unnaturally so with long black hair that shined in the sun. He walked in way that seemed relaxed but I could tell his body tense, like he was expecting someone to hit him. But most importantly, his aura was sending off alarms in my head.

'There's no way a human's life force is that dense, or that warped.' I learned the obvious fact that as a person age's their life force decreases, sometimes very slowly depending on how healthy you are, and the handsome man that just came out the carriage? His life force was also decreasing...but 100 times slower than even the healthiest man. My heartbeat spiked.

'Who is that? Why is his aura like that? Does he also practice Chi and is that why his life force is so dense? If so than why is his life force so different than a human's? Is…he not human?' Question's started flying through my head as I tried to act normal even though I was easily 50 meters away from their position. Stopping in front of a random merchant's stall I channeled some Chi into my ears and focused on the conversation they were having.

"I'm very honored to have Lord Naizer and Vassal Jonathan in my humble town." This was the mayor Eric

"Humph, it will do as a side stop but I don't expect anything in this town to keep our attention for long my lord." The bald man named Jonathan didn't even try to lower his voice as he spoke to his lord.

"It will do. Thank you for the hospitality." Lord Naizer said this with a wickedly perfect smile

"No it's my pleasure. I already set aside a private house; I hope it will be to your liking." Eric started walking away with them to what I'm assuming is their lodging.

Before they got out of sight, Lord Naizer locked eyes with me, lifted a brow and then gave me the same perfect smile he gave Mayor Evergreen. Then they walked away.

"...are you going to buy something?" The merchant whose stall I was in front of asked.

"Huh? Oh no, I'm good." I walked away from the stall as the merchant huffed and then went to help another customer.

'That man is dangerous.' That's what my instincts were telling me. Not Tyrant level danger but enough that I shouldn't turn my back to him if given the chance. 'But is he really a person?' That aura was mixed with so many different types that it was a miracle he looked as normal as he did.

'It was part human, part insect, and something else I've never seen.' It was also the insect and unknown aura that was giving him such dense life force. The man/thing? whatever it was never left my thoughts as I made the trip back home and I met my dad on the way.

"What are thinking about so hard?" Mason asked as he slung his arm around my shoulder. "Cause you look ready to murder your mother's flowers with how hard you're glaring." I only now realized that I was indeed glaring holes into mom's plants.

"…Hey dad? Do you believe in the supernatural?" I asked as subtly as I could, which wasn't very much.

"Sure." Mason just shrugged

"Really? Just like that?"

"Son, I'm a crop farmer who's never left this town and probably never will. Far from me to say something doesn't exist when I don't have the qualifications to."

'…Dad would fit in quite well in the 21st century.' Awed at my father's forward thinking and mental maturity, I couldn't help but respect him.

"Besides have you met your mother?! Everything about your mother is one of kind and God himself must have personally created her with perfection in mind! God I love that woman!" Then he does stuff like this and all respect instantly evaporates (it's nice he loves his wife but come on man you were on a roll). Sighing lightly at my father's act, I started making for my room.

"Pierce." I turned back to my dad, a serious no nonsense expression on his face.

"You probably already know this but I'm going to say it anyway." Mason took a deep breath. "Never let anyone, not me, not your mom, not even yourself stop you from doing what you want. Any goal you have you should go and do it, no matter how insignificant, no matter the fears that hold you back. You only have one life son, and no one wants a life that's only filled with regrets." Mason than gave a goofy smile. "But like I said you probably know that already, you are a smart kid."

I just stared at my father, words failing me as I had nothing to say, respect rushing back to me. "I will." That was all I could get out before I went into my room.

* * *

Mason stared at the door his son went through before his smile became a bit softer. He knew why Pierce was having such a hard time leaving this town; it wasn't just his mother's refusal. 'He's scared for us.' Mason gave a wry smile to such a thing. 'It's the parent's job to worry you know?' Ever since the Tyrant incident Pierce was scared of what could happen if he wasn't here to protect us. It was incredibly sweet and he couldn't be prouder of his son but…

'He won't be happy.' That being his last thought on the matter, Mason went to his room to work on a new project he thought up (a wooden tube with very thin sheets of glass that helps you look far away! Genius!). All the awhile hoping that his son's decision makes him happy.

* * *

**Several Hours Later**

Night descended as I laid on my bed, looking outside through my open window. I was like this since I came home and Mason's word constantly echoed in my mind. What if I left and something happens to them? What if after seeing all that I wanted to see, they won't be here? 'No one wants a life filled only with regrets huh?' I swear that's a quote somewhere but I don't remember who said it. Sighing, I got up and thought of my life until now. Crazy cool powers that I discovered when I was a toddler. Taking down a monster like bear that 100 men would have probably lost against. My teacher Dylan teaching me with pride on how to use a sword. My dad supplying me with his infinite reservoir of wisdom and stupidity that oddly worked well together. And my mom who no matter what I did loved me like I was the last good thing in the world (I really didn't deserve it any of it). I made a decision.

"Constantly living in fear of what might happen isn't living." I got to my feet and picked up my sword. "Time to go see what the world has to offer but first things first, let's go have a talk with that Lord." Something about the man really rubbed me the wrong way and there was no way in hell I was leaving until I made sure that Lord wasn't a threat.

Quickly applying Chi Aura, I jumped out the open window landing with a soft thud and booked it towards the Lord's private lodging (everyone talked about his arrival so I knew where he was staying). I was nothing more than a blur as I maneuvered through town, a faint wind picking up behind me as I ran and I quickly reached the Lord's house. There was a slight problem.

'Where the hell is he?' I couldn't sense him inside the house but I could pick up his Chi trail. The thing about living beings is that we leave signatures everywhere we go and for something with a life force like Naizer's? His signature might as well been visible to the naked eye with bright neon lights saying, "He went that way officer!" I learned to see _Chi_ trails 3 weeks ago. Lucky me. Following the Chi trail I found myself reaching a house that was a little cut off from the rest of the town. Naizer's signature was leading through the door and inside the house. The house was dead silent.

'That's not a good sign.' Furrowing my brows, I slowly opened the door and tip towed through the house and found myself in the living room of an old couple's house. How do I know this? The old furniture (compared to the current time), the old trinkets that littered the room...and the old couple that were ripped apart and looked like they eating before something ate into them.

"Urg!" I promptly threw up at the sight and accidentally kicked the severed leg that I believed belonged to the wife since it was resting at feet of the door. "Oh for fucks sake!" I paled even more at the sight and left the room.

'What kind of- what kind of sick fuck!?' I didn't know the couple but no one deserved to go out like that! 'They were in the middle of a meal for Christs sake!' The worst part? Naizer's signature was all over the mutilated old couple.

'Where is that psychopath!?' Turning on Chi Vision and setting it to max power I saw Naizer somewhere east of my position. He was walking alone in the woods right to another house that was a little isolated.

"Oh fuck no!" Chi Aura flaring bright, a small crater was left where I started my sprint and I quickly closed the distance between me and Naizer. I appeared as a blur in front of him and from the shocked look on his face I could tell he wasn't expecting me.

"Who ar-" That was all the words he got out before I sent a Seismic Fist right into his gut, making him puke up blood and sending him flying straight into a large tree denting it. At the time I probably should have tried to get a confession out of him or at least tried to talk him since he was a Lord of something and I didn't know the problems that can come from attacking him. I should have done a lot of things but after remembering what he did to that old couple any intention of treating this scum of the earth like a human being flew right out the window.

Naizer coughed loudly, spiting out the left over blood in his mouth and looked at me with rage on his face before confusion appeared. "What the- what the hell is a Yokai doing out here!?" Naizer was looking in shock at my white glowing form. I stopped at that.

'Yokai?' I was now confused. 'Is that what he is? Where have I heard that before?' Faint memories started bubbling from deep in my mind.

"Urgh!" The punch really did some damage if Naizer's hard wince said anything. "I don't know why you attacked me but you picked the wrong fight." Rage in his eyes, Naizer's body started…morphing. Four hairy spider-like appendages poked out from his back, he's robe tore as his muscles bulged and sickly gray hair covered his body. His hands and feet became sharp claws and the only part of his body that stayed normal was his face (though that only raised the creep factor of his transformation). He was disgusting but he's smug face seemed to ask, "I'm glorious aren't I?" No, no you are not.

'Well that explains the insect aura.' He was hard to look at but I came to do something and I'm not leaving till I finish it.

"Humph, gaze in awe at my beautiful fo-" I interrupted by hitting him in the face with a Chi coated fist. He retaliated by aiming one of his appendages at my head, which I dodged by lightly tilting me head. Kicking his feet from under him Naizer fell to the ground and I than kicked him in the face sending him skidding across the floor. "Arghh!" Crying out in pain, Naizer quickly got up and tried to claw my face multiple times but I dodged them all.

'This guy has no battle sense.' Naizer had no form when fighting and I only needed Chi Aura to keep up with him (I didn't even need to use my sword). I nailed him three times in the chest, from the faint snapping sound my fist broke a rib or 2 and once more in the gut. Grabbing a spider appendage that tried to skewer me, I started flinging Naizer around like he was a rag doll. Smashing him against a boulder, then against the ground (twice) and finally through a tree as he laid there, groaning. He tried to speak.

"Who do you thin-" I proceeded to smack him with the tree he flew through. "How dar-" I hit him again. "Sto-" I hit him once more. "Will let me finish!?"

"I don't give a damn about some shitty side villain's shitty monologue!" I hit Naizer one more time and tossed the destroyed tree aside. Naizer was bloody and beaten with 3 of his spider limbs broken. 'This guy isn't fast or strong but man can he take a hit.' I watched as he stumbled to his feet and before he can collect himself I grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up in the air. Naizer was livid, desperately trying to pry open my Chi covered grip.

"Do you...have any idea...who I 'am!?" Naizer talked in choked breathes

"…Did you not hear a word I just said?" I sighed, slightly releasing my grip to allow Naizer to breathe easier.

"I'm a Devil you cretin! Of the House of Kumo, under the greater House of Barbatos! When they find out what you did, your clan of filthy mutants and this puny town will burn!" Naizer got more and more passionate as he kept talking until he stopped struggling all together. My eyes widened like saucers, pupils shrinking to dots, and my grip relaxed ever so slightly. Naizer, seeing all this happen, thought I recognized his position and was intimidated into submission. He wasn't even in the ball park.

'Chi…Yokai…Devil…House of Barbatos…' All these terms ran through my head at light speed and at the end of it all a very faint memory of one of my favorite light novels popped up. Centered around a perverted brown haired teenager turned devil with a god killing dragon in his left arm screaming, "I'm going to become the Harem King!"

'No way…' My grip became looser. 'No fucking way.'

"Humph, at least you understand your position." Naizer started talking arrogantly. "Now put me down and kneel-" Before my grip became like a vice again.

"What…are you…doing!?" Naizer was really confused now.

"Stray Devil." I lightly said this term looking for a bite. It was too easy.

Naizer's eye widened and he struggled once more but you could tell the desperation in his movements this time. 'How!? How does he know?! I made sure no one can ever find me, so how!?' Naizer was terrified now, wanting nothing more than to pick a direction and fly till his wings broke down. He had no idea that his actions just clarified the hunch I had. But I still needed to be 100 percent sure…

"Sacred Gears." Naizer didn't react so I slammed him against the ground. "Does the term Sacred Gears mean anything to you!?"

"T-they are the gifts the Biblical God gives to h-humans aren't they!?" Naizer had no idea why this humanoid Yokai was bringing up Sacred Gears now but he was too terrified to think straight. "I-I don't have a Sacred Gear! My parents were both Devils!"

'Holy shit…' I couldn't think as my mind when blank and the grip on Naizer's neck loosened again. The Stray Devil saw his chance and quickly jumped to the side. "Ah!" Wings made out of webs and were shaped like a bats shot out of Naizers back and he took to the skies. The term 'like a bat out of hell' was never more appropriate then now. Looking back, Naizer just saw me staring at him in a daze as he escaped, 'I need to get away from this crazy bastard!' Thinking this Naizer picked up the pace never realizing the blood trail his wounds were leaving.

I watched Naizer fly away and did nothing but sigh as he left my sight (Naizer's blood that he was leaving everywhere only increased the density of his Chi trail, it wasn't going away any time soon).

'DxD.' that was all that came to mind. "DxD." That time it came out my mouth. I took a deep breath and screamed, "I'm in Highschool DxD!" I started shaking on that tid bit of information and couldn't help the excitement that was building up inside me. There was just one small problem.

"It's 1596, 400 years before Issei is even born." Yeah, that's a bit of a snag but still there was a whole supernatural world out there and that brought a smile to my face. Knowing what I needed to do next I quickly turned around and ran home.

* * *

**At Pierce's House**

I took my clothes, some money, and a map before walking out my room right into my dad who was in the hallway. We stared at one another before he began.

"They found the body of the real Lord in the carriage they came to town with (he wasn't even called Naizer). Apparently the vassal didn't know the man he was serving was an impostor and has requested a man hunt for the Lord's killer." That brought me a wave of relief. 'That's one problem out the way. I don't need to go and make sure mom and dad don't get in trouble for what I did' (I feel sorry for the real Lord but what can you do?)

"Your leaving aren't you?" I could only nod. "Wait a second." Then Mason went into his room and came out with a big traveling bag that he quickly tossed to me. There was preserved snacks, boots, sets of thick clothes, money, a map, and even a compass. I had no one words.

"Dad…thank you…" Mason shook his head

"Thank your mother instead." That put a confused expression on my face. Mason snorted. "Your mother can whine, and groan, and overall hate your decision all day long. But the moment you started talking about exploring the world 6 months ago, she would go to the market everyday and would look for anything that can help someone travel and put it in that bag. God that woman is complex." A fond smile appeared on Mason face as he remembered watching his wife personally stitch that traveling bag.

As my dad's word soaked in a lump appeared in my throat and my eyes became watery. 'Damn it, I'm 38 mentally I shouldn't tear up so easily! I blame the hormones!' But that didn't stop the tears or made the hug his dad gave him any less bitter sweet.

"Go. Go out and find what your looking for. We'll be here when you get back. I promise." Dad tone was incredibly soft. "I'll take care of your mother, if you try to say goodbye, the moment she gets her arms around you she's not going to let go." We both laughed at that.

"I love you guys."

"We love you too kiddo."

I picked up the traveling bag, put my sword around my waist and walked out the house in the direction Naizer fled. I didn't trust myself to look back. If I did, I would have seen the eyes of an incredibly proud father.

'That kid's going to do great things, I just know it.' Wiping the tears out of his eyes, Mason turned to see his wife and the rest of the search team (Dylan included) coming up the way and paused at the look his wife was giving me. '…She's not going to make me sleep on the couch for this, right?' When she closer and he explained what happened to Pierce, Mason quickly regretted everything. 'I take it back…I take it all back! Come back here and save me before she kills-aaaaahhhhhhh!' The town's resident just blankly watched the show in front of them as the poor helpless husband was violently shaked by his wife with her screaming "Give me back my son, you bastard!"

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

Stopping, smiling at the faint sound of my mom ripping into my dad, I stared out into the unknown and grinned. "Highschool DxD huh? This should be fun." I activated _Touki_ (I finally knew what Chi Aura was really called) and ran in the direction of the wayward Devil.

* * *

And done. I've got to stop getting carried away with the writing. Anyway, Pierce finally figures out where he is and he's taking it in stride. No matter the time period. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	7. Chapter 6

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Cyclopsnerd**: He won't. I honestly wanted to make a story that didn't really involve the main characters (the one's that aren't alive yet at least). I just wanted to make a story about Pierce and his crazy and awesome adventures in Highschool DxD. Maybe when I'm done with this I might make another where it's modern day and he meets the main cast. If that turns you away, well thanks for reading this far.

**MasterBlade47**: He isn't, Pierce is 100% human. Naizer has just never seen a human use Chi as well as Pierce does. I mean even in canon, the only human shown that can use Chi is Ouryuu Nakiri and that's because he is the vessel of a Sacred Beast. I think it's because humans have naturally weaker bodies then the supernatural and they need to be very young to slowly grow their life force.

**SoftItalics**: Thanks man and boy do I! I have a very active imagination when it comes to nerdy shit like this. Lets just say things are going to get really crazy, very stupid, and bit disrespectful but this is a world where God is dead so the skies the limit!

**VladImpaler**: That's honestly quite a cool idea and your actually in the ball park in how I want to give Pierce extended longevity but if he starts just sapping the life of the Earth I can imagine it would make learning Senjutsu later difficult since you know it was confirmed in the canon that it is self-aware.

* * *

**Chapter 6: The Cliché of Clichés and the Epic Quest**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and thank god for that imagine having so much ero potential like DxD and Ichiei can never exploit it, oh the blue balls! I own the OC's and that's enough for me.

* * *

**In the Old Couple's House**

The bodies of the old couple were found by the town residents after searching every house in town. Many reacted the same way Pierce did, either out right puking or praying to any god that would listen to put the old couple's souls at peace. With the way they died, many people called off the search and just wanted to get back to their homes to spent time with their family. Eric Evergreen couldn't find fault with that.

'What a way to go.' Feeling queasy from looking at the scene of carnage, he went outside and took a breather.

"Mayor Eric?" Boyd spoke up with a hesitant voice

"What Boyd?" Eric couldn't hold back a sigh and rubbed his temples

"Um, Vassal Jonathan wanted to know why the man hunt was stopped." Eric really couldn't hold back a sigh that time either.

'I'm tempted to show him the mutilated bodies and telling him to fuck off since he asked us to hunt down a man, not a cannibal!' The teeth marks on the victim's bodies were definitely going to give him nightmares. "I'll talk to him."

Boyd gave a sheepish smile and walked away. Taking one more deep breath, Eric soon turned to follow Boyd but stopped to look at a shadow in the corner of the house. 'What was that?' Lightly walking towards the shadow Eric found nothing and shook his head. "I need a drink." Leaving shortly after. If he had stayed, he would have seen two beautiful golden eyes open and scan the room before closing. "Bingo." A faint exclamation was given before the presence disappeared completely.

* * *

**Middle of the Forest**

In the wreckage of Pierces and Naizer's fight, 5 cloaked figures investigated the scene quickly finding the dried patches of blood that lead somewhere north. The lead figure crouched down to get a better look and rubbed his arm as a serene voice spoke up.

"Are you okay?" One of the figures stepped forward and placed her hand on the leaders shoulder.

"Yeah, it's just acting up that's all." The leader put his companion's worry to rest

"Whoever he was fighting wasn't half bad…and pissed off." The larger figure (at least 6'0) spoke up

"How can you tell?" Another woman's voice asked, a pointy hat on her head

"Well, the claw shaped foot marks obviously belong to the little Stray," Disdain heavy in his voice. "those are everywhere showing panic and from the positioning he was getting tossed around like nothing."

"And the anger?"

"His opponent started beating him with a tree." The large figure said plainly

"...Oh." The woman turned towards the left as a 6th cloaked figure joined them but you can tell it was a woman as a tight leather suit was revealed underneath. It showed off her full, womanly figure.

"Which way did he go?" The leader rose to his feet and asked.

"Northeast. He must have realized that he couldn't just keep flying in one direction and steered somewhere populated to…"eat" and recover." Disgust was evident in her voice.

"What city is he headed to?"

"Norwich."

"Alright then." The last figure spoke up. "Let's go and finish this stupid grudge our "fearless" leader has and be on the way to the assembly." It was irritatingly nasal.

Glaring at the figure, the serene voice became cold. "We're still missing one more member and it's on the way regardless."

"Yes, because going in the completely opposite direction is "on the way"." The large figure was about to step forward but was stopped by the leader. "Enough, if it takes too long we'll let him go and be on our way."

The conversation ending there, the pointy hat wearing woman waved her hand and the group was covered in a light blue dome that levitated them off the ground. Now flying, they quickly covered ground and speed off in the direction of Naizer's escape.

* * *

**Somewhere near Norwich in an Abandoned Farm**

Inside a shed, a humanoid that looked like a mix between a spider and a handsome man lied in a pool of blood as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding. The problem wasn't the skin that was torn from being hit with superhuman strength (any other time his Devil physique would have healed most of the damage). It was the fact that _Chi_ was used to do the damage. _Chi_ enhanced attacks damaged the life force of others directly and that's much harder to heal (the internal damage was also a pain).

'This is why I fucking hate Yokais!' Internally cursing the human shaped Yokai, Naizer tried to think of a new plan for the future. 'Alright. First, find some juicy young flesh to recover my strength. Then, get back on the road and get the hell away from this area.' Naizer wasn't stupid. He was vain, prideful, and greedy but not stupid. Even after flying dozens of miles from the Yokai he still didn't feel safe. Those mutants had ways to track down their prey and he had a feeling that freak wasn't too far behind. 'I couldn't hurt him even once!' Gritting his teeth as he got up, Naizer turned around and came face to face with me who was smiling up a storm.

* * *

"Hi." I quickly sliced off the arm that Naizer tried to reflexively attack with. His screams echoed throughout the abandoned farm before he was kicked in the face and sent flying to the other side of the side of the shed. Face planted on the floor and trying to get up (and failing) Naizer peeked over at me who was looking down on him, I had a smile on my face but it wasn't warm.

"You sure can fly you know that?" I picked up his trail after coming back to the scene of the fight and had to run all the way here through hills, ditches, and lots of shrubbery that tore my clothes and made me change into new ones. Twice. Yeah, I was a little pissed.

"What do you want from me?!" Naizer was hysterical at this point

"I want you dead."

"But why?! I've never done anything to you! Just let me go! You'll never see me again I swear!" He was honestly pathetic groveling like he was. Ignoring my opponent's plea to life I pointed my sword at his throat.

"Wait!" My sword halted as he took a shaky breath. "I know what you want."

"No you don't." I pressed my sword a bit forward, resting it on Naizer's neck

"Its power isn't it?" He didn't flinch as he formed a magic circle and a vial containing a black liquid appeared in his hand.

"And what is that?"

"Satanas Aranea blood. It comes from the rarest and strongest underworld spider that's ever lived. Its strength at its prime was Ultimate-class at least!" Naizer was like a merchant selling a once and a lifetime miracle drug that made all your dreams come true.

"Then why haven't you've taken it?" I didn't believe for a second Naizer kept such a thing on him and never used it before now. His face darkened before he quickly explained why.

"Cause my body wouldn't survive the mutation...I'm not strong enough." He said that last part real low

"So what then? I take this and I immediately become Ultimate-class?" I wasn't going to do it but I was curious

"No. But you are strong and have potential; with this your path to Ultimate-class will become even easier!"Naizer was honest about that part. I was tempted not going to lie and having the chance to gain Spider-man like powers would be pretty sick. Then I looked down at Naizer's spider hybrid form and any temptation evaporated into thin air. 'Yeah, no thanks. With my luck I'll end up looking just like him or possibly even worse.' I still had one more question though.

"Where'd you get it?"

"Huh?" Naizer body locked up at the question

"I said where'd you get the blood?" I was curious of Naizer's reaction. The Stray Devil didn't answer and when I was about to lose my patience and end it all, he spoke up again.

"My brother. I got it from my little brother." I quirked a brow at his tone, it seemed bitter and spiteful.

"What happened? He gave it to you out of pity and your pride couldn't take that?" Naizer just stared at me in silence and when I connected the dots cold fury erupted within me. My sword pressed harder and drew blood from his neck.

"Are you kidding me?" My voice was livid. "You killed your brother for a vial of blood from some strong ass spider and you can't even use the damn thing!?"

"It was so supposed to be mine anyway!" Naizer's eyes gained a rabid look. "I was the first born, I was the one that ran the house, and it was supposed to belong to me! But my parents had him and they thought he was "worthy" enough to take in the ancestor blood! He wasn't! He was weak and he didn't deserve it, I did! So yeah I took what was mine! What's so wrong abo-" Naizer's head flew up the next second and made a parabola before landing with a soft thud. Self righteous fury still on his face before his headless body fell too. Excess amount of blood spurt out and created an even larger pool. I felt nothing.

'That's probably not a good thing…' I should have felt something for killing a person, even if they were someone like Naizer. I didn't and that would have freaked me out any other time but looking down at Naizer's body I really couldn't care. The vial of Ultimate-class spider blood rolled to my feet and I couldn't help snorting. "He destroyed his family over some power? What a waste." I crushed the vial under my foot and walked towards the shed's entrance.

'Now what to do?' That was the question of the day now that I knew I was in Highschool DxD. '400 years before canon.' Every time that thought popped up I couldn't stop the wry smile that made its way on my face. I mean if it all comes down to it I'll just find a way to the underworld and ask to become a reincarnated Devil. 'Yeah let's call that Plan Z' (The Evil Pieces should have been created by now right? I mean Ajuka was supposedly 500 or so years old at the start of the original canon so he should already be around). There was still a lot of stuff I wanted to see as a human and until I did all I possibly could, then I'll try to get 10,000 years added to my life span. 'But I should probably deal with them first before going anywhere.' Looking ahead, I stopped and stared at the 4 cloaked figures that were standing at the entrance of the shed. Another made his way around to my back, he was quite large, and a 6th was in the shadows above me.

"Can I help you?" No reason to go in guns blazing right off the bat. No one said anything until one of them took a step forward and spoke.

"What happened here?" It was a command but there was no malice in his voice

"I killed him." I said deadpanning

That must have caught him of guard if the subtle twitch was any indicator and he coughed into his hand. "I can see that. I was asking why."

"Oh." I nodded understandingly. "I didn't like his face. It was too annoying looking."

A snort was heard from a woman wearing a pointy hat. 'Wait, a pointy hat?' I stared at the woman who snorted and the man also looked at his companion not appreciating the sound. She just shrugged.

Sighing he turned back to me. "Can you please tell us the real reason you killed him?" He asked much gentler this time.

"Who says that wasn't the real reason?" A look of mock righteousness appeared on my face. "Do you know only 10 percent of men in this world are moderately handsome while the rest of us are stuck living life ordinary looking!" I pulled that number out my ass but I rolled with it. "Why did that douche bag get to live life where everyone admires him for his good looks while we ordinary men are left with passing glances at best even though we're good outstanding citizens! It's a conspiracy I tell you and I won't stop till the whole world is safe from the evil that is villainous handsome men!" I gave a thumbs up and toothy smile that would make a certain green leotard wearing man in a world of ninja wizards proud. The silence was deafening.

Than a low chuckle escaped from pointy hat before it slowly became full blown laughter. The woman next to her also started chuckling and I swear I could hear a muffled laugh from the person up in the shadows. Even the big guy behind me was trying his best to hold in his laughter if the shaking of his shoulders were any indication. The leader just gave a long amused sigh and just said, "You know what? Never mind" and walked to Naizer's corpse and crouched down to get a closer look.

"…Yeah it's him." An angry tone entered his voice before his took a breath. "At least that's one less thing to worry about." He turned to me.

"Whatever your…incredibly weird reason was for killing him, I thank you." He bowed low to me. Now I felt bad for messing with him.

"He was joking Adrian." The serene voice spoke up

The man, now called Adrian, looked shocked. "Really? Wow, I completely believed you!" His naive tone and expression made me feel worse.

"Uh yeah, it was a joke. He attacked my town and I hunted him down to get revenge for the people he killed." Adrian nodded his head agreeing with my decision before putting down his hood and reaching out his hand. "Adrian."

"Pierce." I shook his hand. Adrian was the typical ikemen that you'd fine in an anime. Black hair, tall square shoulders, and strong defined features with a winner's smile. The rest chose to pull down their hoods and I looked at them as they said their names.

"Samantha." The serene voice was a beautiful blonde woman with long hair, priest like attire, had a petite frame and held a small intricate book.

"Vargas." The tall man was a brown haired white man who was very muscular and had steel plate armor with a Bastard sword on his back.

"Maven." The pointy hat woman was pretty, and busty, with curly brown hair, and wore robes that looked high end and tasteful. A short staff was in her hand.

"...Aindrea." The silent man was a blond with shoulder length hair and a very attractive face but it was ruined by the way his face scrunched up, like he was constantly looking at trash. He had an expensive spear on his back with equally nice looking armor.

The person in the shadows jumped down from above and landed without a sound. She had long black hair, a gorgeous face and was wearing a leather suit that enhanced her stunning figure. She gave me a grin. "Hi! I'm Melissa." She put her hand out but I was too shell shocked to speak. She had daggers by her waist.

'Oh good God in Heaven.' (No wait; this is DxD so he's dead) I turned to each of the people in front of me and I couldn't honestly believe it. They were here. They were actually here. The greatest cliché to hit the great book of clichés. The one that every manga, anime, and light novel picked up in one form or another. Many weren't even subtle about it and just copied and pasted the idea on a blank piece of paper and rolled with it. The thought of actually meeting them never entered my mind but here they are, right in front of me. The Cliché of Clichés.

"The Hero Party…" In the silent, abandoned shed my words echoed clear as day.

"…What?" Adrian just tilted his head to the side not following.

At this point, my thought process took an unscheduled vacation so my mouth was on auto-pilot. "You're the Hero Party." I gestured towards them. Adrian's face never left its confused state.

I pointed to Vargas. "The tank/guardian." Vargas just raised a brow at that.

I pointed to Melissa. "The assassin/rouge/thief." Melissa innocently tilted her head.

I pointed to Maven. "The wizard." Maven did nothing before giving a small nod.

I pointed to Samantha. "The healer." Samantha shrugged before an interested expression appeared on her face.

I pointed to Aindrea. "…The asshole." Aindrea's glare could cut steel and most of them had to suppress their chuckles when I said that (Maven was outright laughing though). Finally, I turned back to Adrian, who at this point was looking at me with a mixer of mirth, confusion, and a bit of exhaustion.

"And you." I pointed at Adrian. "You're the Hero." Adrian's eyes widened before he spoke up.

"I wouldn't go as far as to call myself a Hero."

"Do you save people?" I interjected

"…When I can."

"Are you a swordsman." Gesturing towards the sword on his waist.

"…Yes."

"Are you not on an Epic Quest given to you by some higher power or just plain old destiny?"

Adrian became cautious once more and eyed me up and down. 'Who is this guy?'

"I'll take that as a yes." I ignored the tension from asking that question. "You meet the all the requirements and aren't complete assholes (well, not all of them)." I clapped and stretched out my arms. "You're the Hero Party!"

No one said anything. Adrian just looked at his companions one by one and they all had the same look of confusion and amusement on their faces. Adrian looked back to me and just as he was about to interrogate me on why I knew all this, Maven spoke up.

"Can we keep him?" In an innocent voice, Maven asked her ridiculous request.

Any and all tension that was built came crumbling down like a house of cards. A loud smack was heard as Adrian hit his face with the palm of his hand and sighed. I didn't help when I said, "I'm very high maintenance you know?" He looked ready to say "fuck it" and get into an epic showdown that usually happens when someone kills a long sought after villain. Sadly, it never came to that.

"Well, it was nice meeting you guys but I think I'll be on my way." I saw nothing left to do so I tried to make my exit before stopping. "By the way, do you guys happen to know if there is a supernatural mercenary association or something like that around?" They gave me puzzled looks.

"I'm sorry, I don't think that exists." Samantha shook her head

"Oh…" My shoulders slumped a little. "Well, I could always be the first who knows."

"Wait." Adrian stopped me. "Are you a mercenary?"

"I plan to be. I don't have many talents other then beating the shit out of people or sewing." Not very well either since every time I made something my mom just said it was great (they weren't). "Why you want to hire me?" I joked. Adrian looked at his companions and they all either gave a shrug or nodded. "Actually yes, we are missing a member."

I wasn't really expecting Adrian to take him up on the offer. Narrowing my eyes, I gave my answer.

"Sure, I don't mind but I have to ask. What do you mean you need another member? What are you trying to accomplish?"

At this point, I was expecting a lot of things. A quest to stop a Devil King from destroying a princess's kingdom. A journey to find a Holy Sword to slay an Evil Dragon. Hell, I was even expecting him to say they want to explore every supernatural dimension in the world and reach the pinnacle of humanity. I was expecting many things.

"We need to kill a God."

...That I was not expecting.

* * *

**1 Hour Later, In a Pub in Norwich**

Music was being played as the waitresses in the pub went around bringing food and beer to the rambunctious crowd. Many who were refugees that were Dutch or Flemish, the majority that escaped the Catholic's persecutions and were looking for work. In a corner of the pub, 6 people were sitting around a round table full of food. "I hope you enjoy." A waitress said this before going to help other customers. Thanking the waitress, they dug into the food and the ordinary looking young man among them was eating a steak and sampling the ale.

"Wow this is pretty good." I was impressed with the mild taste, it was no Heineken but it wasn't bad.

"I know right?" Vargas spoke. "My grandfather used to bring me into this pub when we used to travel."

"It's alright." Melissa wasn't all that impressed. "Wish they had a more seafood dishes."

"Yeah but this steak sure is juicy." I bite into the succulent meat and it reminded me of my mother's steak. I passed the other half to Melissa when she was looking at it with a bit of drool. 'Next time don't order chicken if you want steak.' Melissa thanked me and dug into the steak with a vengeance. 'When was the last time she ate?'

"She always eats like that." Samantha answered my unasked question.

"Ah." Nodding my head, I turned to Adrian who was eating some pork with a side of potatoes. He looked up at me.

"So…" I started the conversation. "Kill a God?"

Collective groans were heard from every member of the party, while Adrian look left and right confused as to why his companions reacted this way.

_**"May absolute concedendum." **_Maven lightly spoke and waved her hand, a palm sized magic circle in her hand. Everyone around us gained hazy looks in their eyes before resuming their original activities. No one looked in our direction after that. 'That's convenient.' I turned to Adrian for confirmation.

"That's right." He nodded resolutely.

I just looked at him waiting for further explanation but he made no motion to continue. "Yeah…you're going to have give me a bit of context here." I finally asked

"A Greek God." Adrian added that like it answered all my questions (it didn't).

"…A little more please."

"I don't understand." Adrian was honestly confused by the request

I deadpanned at Adrian. I turned to Vargas and Melissa while pointing at Adrian. "Is he doing this on purpose? If it's because of earlier I said I was sorry." They shook their heads and Melissa rubbed her forehead. "No, it's not that. He's just naturally like this." They seemed exhausted with their leader's weird denseness as well. Maven placed her hand on Adrian's shoulder. "I'll explain the rest." Adrian looked like a small puppy that had no idea where he was but he nodded nonetheless.

Maven cleared her voice and began. "I guess we should start with the Emissaries…

* * *

**30 Minutes Later**

…and that's why we need to kill a God." Maven finally finished with that.

I just stared at her in silence. My mind was completely blank from the data dump that was just unleashed on me the last 30 minutes. I rubbed my eyes and spoke.

"So let me get this straight." I paused for a second. "The Greek God of Monsters, Zeth, declared war on Olympus (why is it always the Greek Gods?) and the Gods have tasked humans known as Emissaries to kill Zeth and his army of monsters before he can threaten Olympus. Did I miss anything?"

Maven shook her head, confused as to why I was repeating what she just said. "That's about it."

Deadpanning at Maven, I made my first problem known. "Then why didn't you just say that!?" I was nearly screaming. "Why did you go on a 30 minute lecture on what the Greeks Gods are, what they each represent, and you even went a little into your own personal life! Jesus lady, I like to ramble myself but there is a limit to things!" Taking a minute to catch my breath, Maven looked insulted before Melissa spoke.

"Finally, someone said it…" Melissa's eyes widened as we all turned to look at her. She must not have meant to say that out loud. She quickly tried to apologize but the damage was done.

"I-I don't ramble!" Maven blushed hard, a little angry before she turned to the others. "D-do I?" Adrian stared at his cold food like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Vargas at some point was looking at the chandelier in the pub finding it very nice to look at. Samantha was smiling but her face was so rigid it didn't look natural at all. Maven got her answer.

"Oh my God." Maven blushed even harder and pulled her hat down to cover her eyes. "I-I do ramble a lot." She seemed to shrink in her chair.

"N-no! That's not true at all!" Adrian tried to save any semblance of Maven's pride. "You-you just give lots of extra information!" Smooth.

"That's right." Vargas spoke up. "You say all the things that could be learned gradually in a short period of time." Not bad.

"I agree." Samantha joined the 'Save Maven's Pride' group. "You give an excess amount of information that seems useless at first but may prove useful later." Ouch.

"Uh huh! Uh huh!" Melissa just kept agreeing with everyone.

I watched the show in front of me and had to smile at what I was seeing. These guys were strong, their life force made that real clear but… 'They seem more like friends then soldiers.' Even now they were trying their best to cheer up Maven who looked like she was half a second away from teleporting to the other end of the world. Sighing, I leaned against the back of my chair and thought about what I was just told. 'And I just left my small town like what, 5 hours ago. My life really isn't ordinary.' I knew that the moment I discovered Chi but still what a turn. The Emissaries of the Gods, Adrian being one, needed to gather 6 members to help them on the mission to kill Zeth. Of course, I didn't think I stood a chance against a God and was about to deny their offer before Maven told me an important piece of information. Zeth was injured, really bad. Apparently, Zeth had the glaring problem most Gods, Greeks particularly, dealt with on a daily basis. He was insufferably arrogant. Sure, he had the strength to back up that arrogance since he was as strong as Zeus himself. But the dumbass chose to declare war on Olympus in the annual meeting of the Gods. Idiot thought he could say, "Well I'm going to raid your mountain, kill you all, and proclaim myself King of Olympus. Kay?" and just walk right out. 'Jesus, Kokabiel can take notes on being a war mongering douche from this guy.' After getting his ass handed to him by not only Zeus but all the Greek Gods, Zeth escaped, went into hiding and started amassing a monster army to raid Olympus. 'There's just one problem with the whole thing…actually no, there's a lot of problems with the whole situation but I have a hunch they didn't ask for more information than they were given.'

"Why me?" Adrian turned back to me when I asked that. "I mean I'm strong but I don't think I'll be much help against a God."

Adrian looked at me with a strange smile before asking, "How old are you?"

"16." Where did that come from?

"Pierce, I'm 23. Vargas is 25. Ma-"Adrian was quickly hit in the head with Maven's staff and Melissa just glared at him daring him to continue. Samantha just gave a menacing smile. Coughing, Adrian got to the point. "My point is that you took down a Mid-class Devil like Naizer like he was nothing and your 16!" When he put it like that I couldn't help but reevaluate my capabilities, and he was right I was pretty good. I just kept thinking myself as older because of my mental maturity and somewhere along the line I forgot I was still pretty young. "Beside, when we said Zeth was hurt we mean really hurt. Zeus not only beat him pretty bad in their fight but the others Gods put curses on him that will last at least 8 years!" Adrian gave that last bit of information with a confident smile. I weighed the pros and cons.

'Cons: We're going against a Monster God and his army of murderous yes men, I barely have any battle experience to be of any use in this mythological war, and the odds of me dying are so high it stopped being funny 20 minutes into Maven's explanation.'

'Pros: We might get to kill a God.' That was all that came to my head. If everything works and I live through this, I'm still most likely going to become a badass mercenary that rakes in the money (kind of hard not to with my abilities) and sleeps with beautiful women all over the world (can you tell I'm delusional?). And do you know what just screams badass with a side of holy shit? God-Slayer on your resume. 'No one wants a life only filled with regrets.' I know this wasn't what my dad meant when he said that and all things considered a logical person would have got up, said good luck, and ran like hell. 'Except, I'm really over being logical…' I was normal, logical person my entire past life and it was a good life all things considered but…I think I finally understand why every protagonist ever seems to get into things that are way over their heads. It just sounds so damn awesome.

"I'm in." I sealed my fate with those 2 words and the smile on Adrian's face said it all. If I was going to die again then I was damn sure going to take a God and his monster army with me. Now that's a way to go. "So what now?"

"Now? For now we make our way to one of the Gates that lead to Olympus." Adrian eye's then turned. "But first, let's see what you can do."

* * *

**Outside the Pub, a Grass Clearing**

Everyone paid for their food and made their way over to a flat piece of land to which Maven put up a barrier. The same one typically used in the canon whenever a big fight is going to commence (I'm assuming).

"Alright then." Vargas was in front of me cracking his knuckles. "You ready?"

"Yeah." I just nodded, activating _Touki_

"Oh! So you can use Chi!" Melissa spoke up shock in her voice.

"Yeah, I learned to use it when I was young." I kicked off the ground and sped towards Vargas my fist aiming for his chest. He placed both arms in front of him and blocked by attack, skidding back. I pressed forward with a round house kick to his face which he dodged and he grabbed me by the waist and flung me away. Landing on my feet I was on him again, sending dozens of attacks all over his body. Most of them landed but it felt like I was hitting steel. 'Damn, what is his skin made of!?'

"Ops!" I lowered my head, dodging a punch to the face and I uppercuted him into the air and kicked him in the stomach sending him flying. Falling to the ground he quickly got back up and smiled. He looked like he was having fun. Not going to lie, so was I. We ran towards each other and our fist connected, a small shockwave rang out as I barely had the upper hand. It became a slung match at that point with each of us hitting the other constantly and us dodging or taking it. It was only thanks to _Touki_ and my relatively better reflexes that I stood proud while Vargas was on the ground with a large grin on his face.

"That was fun!" Vargas sat up wincing at the bruises all over his body. I wasn't all that better. I may have dodged a lot more of his attacks then he dodged mine but when Vargas' hits landed he made them count. Samantha walked towards Vargas, opened her book, and stood reading before waving her hand.

_**"Saucius Sanatur Caro." **_A magic circle appeared under Vargas and his bruises immediately disappeared.

"Called it!" I yelled out in glee seeing I was right. Samantha just lightly smiled.

"Do you want to be healed too?" She offered by I refused, Chi already fixing the bruises all over my body. My fatigue didn't go away but the nasty pain disappeared like snow.

"Oh right, Chi-user."

Adrian stepped forward at this time a big smile on his face.

"Did I pass the try outs?" All he gave was a big nod before turning to Maven.

"Maven, let's get Aindrea and be on our way." Apparently, the stupid blond didn't really care if I passed or not and just waited in the inn. Dick.

"Aye, aye." Maven waved her hand and a large teleportation array (?) appeared under us and was slowly shinning brighter and brighter.

"So where is this Gate to Olympus?" I asked as the array was activating

"London."

"...London Bab-" Then we were gone. My joke too soon for this world with us.

* * *

And finished. The clichés were done and the epic quest is revealed. I know this may seem rushed and convenient but I'll try to make the quest to kill a God as realistic as I possibly can. Wow, never thought I'd have to say that ever. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter and be prepared for more! Happy New Years!


	8. Chapter 7

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Crainium9**: You are not wrong. There is a mother of monsters in Greek mythology but Zeth is an OC I created for Pierce to eventually kill. I mean having to kill a monster God sounds damn cool.

* * *

**Chapter 7: A Mountain Almost as Big as a God's Ego**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I wonder if in another world I do. I mean own the OC's in this world so it's possible for Ichiei to own the OC's in the other.

* * *

**3 Day Later, London**

In the busy streets of 1596 London, many men and women went about their everyday lives. Carriages litter the streets bringing cargo, people, or just men going for a morning ride. An ordinary man was walking on the side walk exploring the bustling city and his 3 companions were of the same mind. Well, most of them were.

"Hey Maven what is that?" This was Melissa

"That's the Hospital created by Archbishop John Whitgift."

"Hey Maven, what's those grounds for?" This was Vargas

"That is Cambridge, created in honor of the late Lady Frances Sidney for higher education."

"Hey Maven, can I go in there?" I asked pointing to a large building.

"No, that is the Blackfriars Theater but it can't be used because of political reasons."

They all nodded, not really getting it but she answered their questions so they played along. Then Melissa spoke again.

"Hey Maven, what about…" This continued for awhile.

I scoured the great city with my new companions and Maven seemed to be an encyclopedia on everything and everyone in London. I've never been to modern day London in my past life and just the current London was really entertaining.

'Even with the prying eyes.' I felt the auras of multiple people following us the moment we entered London but they weren't hostile. Regardless, I told my teammates and Maven put my worries to rest.

"They are the Yeomen Watchers."

"The who-men what down?" Her response only made me more confused.

"They're the watchers of London. They make sure no supernatural force is a threat to London or the throne." I looked at the passing men in blue and red robes, holding muskets, and quite intimidating looking to regular people. Maven seemed to understand my confusion so she explained. "Those are the Yeomen Warders created by King Henry VII. The Yeomen Watchers was an Order created by King Arthur himself when he ruled England and have continued to protect it till this day."

"Wow." I was impressed. For such an Order to last that long and under different rules must have been difficult. "Do they protect everyone that sits on the throne or just Arthur's direct descendants?"

"Mainly those who they find worthy. The leader of the Yeomen Watchers is a Great Yokai who King Arthur befriended long ago."

"That's my ancestor!" Melissa dropped that tid bit and continued walking.

I just nodded; no longer shocked at any piece of information they gave me. After traveling and hanging out with the Hero Party I learned something very important.

I was under qualified for a spot on this team.

Maven was a student at the school Merlin himself created and was considered a genius at every magic type there was graduating at the age of 12 and staying till 18 before she left. The school was in London and it was why Maven was so well informed when it came to the Capital of England.

Vargas was the spirit inheritor of Galahad. Yes, the Galahad. One of the three knights that went after the Holy Grail and succeeded. The (illegitimate) son of Lancelot and was considered a paragon among knights. The perfect knight.

Melissa was a Yokai and was from a noble, ancient clan of Shadow Leopards. Her kind is able to access a realm called the Shadow Zone and it's a completely separate space that can reach into any dimension as long as shadows exist there (of course if there are barriers to block her then it's different). Apparently, she was considered a princess since she has a soul link with the Shadow Zone and can go in any time she wants and for however long (regular shadow leopards can't stay too long or they'll get lost in the dark realm).

Samantha has the Sacred Gear **Saint Chapter**. As long as she considers you an ally, your medical information can appear in her book and she can see any ailment, injury, and deformity. A master healing magician met her, found about her Sacred Gear, and brought her under their tutelage. She has even gone to actual medical school and graduated by age 18.

Aindrea was actually a Demigod (of course he is) who was born between the union of a noble in the Far East and Ares. He was the Guide for the Emissary to make sure we didn't do things that incites tension between the other mythologies and factions during the mission since Adrian was technically representing the Greek Gods. Oh yeah, I was also right. He's a dick.

And Adrian? I found out to become an Emissary you need to have 3 Gods become your patron and gain their blessings. When I asked who his Gods were, it took every bit of my self control not to curse out loud. His Gods were Athena, Hephaestus , and Apollon. An actual Goddess of War and the other the future leader of Olympus. The funny part? The sword he had on him was a blade made by Hephaestus himself to help kill Zeth.

Yeah, I was _very_ under qualified for this position.

"Why is Melissa's ancestor the leader of London's security? I mean shouldn't he be in Japan with the rest of his clan?" Vargas asked a good question.

"King Arthur saved his life and he chooses to protect Arthur's home after he passed to return the favor. There's a rumor that he's just lazy and doesn't want to leave since it's a place that hasn't been attacked supernaturally in centuries." I couldn't help but ask Melissa for confirmation. She just sighed and nodded her head.

"Yeah. My elders brought me before him and we had to wait 3 hours because the lazy idiot over slept and he didn't have anything to say other then, "Wow, congratulations" and then just left!" Melissa remembered the meeting with her ancestor and gritted her teeth. We all laughed at her misfortune.

"Well, he seems to be working pretty hard now." I noticed many shadows that we passed had life force within them and assumed it was the ancestor.

"It's not what you think." Melissa shook her head. "When you become a Great Yokai it's possible to grant certain vassals with your abilities but with higher energy cost and it's not as powerful." I nodded my head in understanding finding the subject interesting before we met up with Adrian, Samantha, and Aindrea.

"It's almost time." Adrian had a serious look on his face. There was something I learned about Adrian and it was that he would be the perfect soldier in an army. He was a pretty alright guy and he may not get a lot of my jokes but that was more my fault then his. The thing is that he only needs the mission, the how, and the when and he's set. That's probably why he has a quirk when it comes to giving others information, he just rolls with what he has and has difficulties explaining stuff to others.

'Heh, he really hits home the hero persona.' I couldn't help but think that

We soon walked to an old, abandoned store that once we got in all we saw was a tall beautiful woman with brown hair reading a book and reclining on a chair. She looked up at us and simply said, "We're closed."

"Good." Aindrea stepped up. "Cause we're here to do the work of the Gods."

The woman lifted her brow, stared at us, and then got up to open the back door. Adrian walked through it and we quickly followed him and he soon stopped, standing next to…am old wooden door.

"Wait." I had to ask now. "This is it?"

Aindrea furrowed his brows and looked back at me. "Do you presume to think I would bring us to the wrong place?"

"Seriously man, presume?" I gave Aindrea a weird look. "Look, I don't know who you're trying to impress but I'm not. Is this seriously it?" I even activated Chi Vision and found nothing.

"Humph, just watch mongrel." Wow, he's even got the humph and name calling down. Impressive. We watched as Aindrea opened the door with a confident stride and ended up…in an old dusty room that looks like no one has used it in centuries. I didn't even know faces can get as red as Aindreas just did.

"W-what is the meaning of this!?" He marched up to the brown haired woman who just proceeded to point down the hall to a very large and expensive looking gate.

"...How the hell did we miss that?" I didn't see it once.

"I saw it." Maven spoke up and Aindrea turned to her, rage in his voice.

"Why didn't you say something!?"

"You didn't ask." Aindrea had nothing to say to that.

The woman coughed once, successfully getting our attention before she outstretched her hand.

"There's a toll to Greek Heaven?" Now that would be funny.

Adrian stepped forward and gave the woman a golden medallion and the woman looked over it once before nodding. She walked up to the gate and opened the pearly white gates. We all went through one by one before I was the last one and stared at the brown haired woman. She stared right back.

"Who are you?" I tried my luck.

"Thallo." She gave her name.

Eyes widening, I tried to respond before I was sucked into the gate. Thallo looked at where Pierce just was before closing the gate.

'No one's ever asked me for my name before.' Thinking Pierce odd for this, Thallo went back to her original position and continued to read her book.

* * *

**Olympus**

When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was in a long flowing field of green that sat next to open waters. I was on a beautiful gold platform that housed the gate we came through. In the distance, I could see villages that had many women, men, and children that seemed to be in paradise. The land was fertile; animals that seemed ethereal ran through the fields, and many beautiful statues littered the grounds in an almost picture perfect way. Then I saw a mountain. A very, very big mountain. The waves crashed against the rock as it was right in the middle of the ocean and seemed to extend all the way to space.

"…Does that even make sense?" I heard Maven snort at my question and I turned to her.

"No, it doesn't." Maven looked up at the mountain that pierced the clouds and seem to go around for hundreds miles. "40,000 feet from base to tip, if it wasn't for magic this thing would have collapsed the rock it's rested on."

"What the hell." That was insane. "They are actual Gods and the first thing they do with their powers is make a big ass mountain? What a waste."

"What would you do with it?" Vargas stood next to me and asked.

"I don't know but it seems to be more trouble than it's worth." I sighed lightly. "Still, the view must be something up there."

"Well be grateful mongrel, you're about to find out." Aindrea said this as a he walked to another gate in the distance and we all just followed him.

"Why is there anot-" Then I felt the difference. My body felt restricted; like a thin veil was placed over me and when I activated _Chi Vision_ I saw nothing.

"Locked Space." Maven explained the phenomenon. "All the space surrounding Olympus and the portal here is locked to stop flying." She gestured towards the air and particles were shown covering our bodies. "Those strong enough can easily break it but it will be like throwing a rock into a still pool, the ripple will be felt everywhere."

"Let's go, we don't have all day. The assembly is about to start." Aindrea stood on the portal and waited till we were all on before placing Adrian's medallion on what looked like a control panel. Light flooded our eyes and we were gone.

* * *

**Top of Olympus**

'I'm really getting tired of the light shows.' Rubbing my eyes for what seemed like the 10th time today I looked up and my eyes widen to the size of saucers. One thought can to mind.

'Son of a bitch. Rick Riordan had it right.' The top of Olympus had a long bridge that connected the gate we were on to a large Athens looking city. Looking over all you could see is cloudless sky and the curvature of the world was clearly visible. A black ink screen that didn't show countless stars but was still something to behold.

"…I'm really glad I'm not afraid of heights." Looking down over the edge, a chill went up my spine even though it was quite warm up here (that's definitely magic too).

"I think I'd get bored of screaming if I fell from this height." Samantha had morbid curiosity and tends to say scary jokes from time to time.

"That's not funny Sam." Melissa didn't like them all that much.

"Come on, we don't have time to talk." Adrian told us and we all followed the bridge, being met by the same tall brown haired woman we met not too long ago.

"Thallo?" I was shocked to meet the woman up here when they just saw her back on Earth.

The woman just tilted her head and point at herself. "Carpo. Please follow me." Then turned around and walked towards the biggest building in the city, us right behind her.

A big meeting hall was our destination as Carpo brought us to our seats and we seemed to be the last ones to arrive as 4 other groups were here.

'Feels like a tournament.' 12 large seats were in the middle of the room on top of a platform and it didn't take a genius to figure out who those belonged too. The big gates opened and a loud, majestic voice rung out. "Well, I can't say I don't appreciate a punctual group." 5 figures walked out of the majestic doors and I saw the Gods in all their glory. I give it a 7. Zeus came out into the stage and I observed the godly womanizer (sounds like a great title, actually). Tall, handsome with long curly black hair and hazel colored eyes. He was wearing very luxurious robes. He didn't have a beard.

'Well his subjects got that wrong.' Zeus started talking about how happy he was to see all the groups here, ready to defend Olympus from the scourge that is the evil Zeth. Got to be honest, I didn't hear half of it as I quickly figured out that anything he was saying was about the sacredness that is Olympus and stuff we already knew. 5 minutes later, I was tuning out the God king of Olympus (man that sounds cool without context) and my eyes started to wander. I looked at the other groups that were here but I didn't recognize any one since my companions never talked about them. One the Emissaries looked like she came from Japan, a katana by her waist and was wearing a black and red kimono (they went with that troupe huh?). Another was a man that looked Filipino with short black hair and was muscular as all hell. He listening to Zeus with rapt attenti-

'Is that a thunderbolt?' Blinking to get confirmation, the man did indeed have a thunderbolt shaped halberd resting by his side. 'Wonder who his God is…' Internally snorting, I looked at the other 4 Olympians that came in with Zeus and I recognized one of them.

'So that's Apollon.' How do I know this? Because the moment Zeus and the rest of them walked in I activated Chi Vision, just to check out what a God is really like since we're on a quest to kill one. The only reason I didn't crap my pants there and then was because my brain short circuited and my body relaxed itself on instinct. 'Now that's just not fair…' Imagine a massive storm of wind, lightning, and thunder was just standing a couple feet from you, talking and that storm had literal tales of him being petty, immoral, and kind of a dick. Yeah, I was very uncomfortable the first 5 minutes of listening to him but I quickly got over it. When a being that can wipe you off the face of the earth with a flick of their wrist is so close to you, you quickly realize there is no point stressing about it when he doesn't even know you exist. That brings me back to why I can recognize Apollon because while Zeus is a massive storm, Apollon is like a large yellow sun. It also helps he looks exactly like the light novel described him. Next to Apollon was a large man that had a frown on his face and was shaking his head at every group here like he was disappointed. The odd thing about the man was that I couldn't feel anything coming off of him. Like he wasn't there. He was handsome.

"That's Ares." Maven spoke real low when she also got bored of Zeus's speech. "The other 3 are Apollon, Aphrodite and Hera." I gave small thanks in the form of a nod before shaking his head at Zeus.

'The guy has a wife that looks like that and still cheats? Lucky bastard.' Hera was tall, gorgeous browned hair woman with the typical Greek woman vibe. A toga that showed her aged fashion, clear white skin and her hair was tied up in a bun that looked very class. She had a body that had curves in all the right areas and her aura was like soft, warm breeze.

'Her daughter definitely deserves the title Goddess of Beauty.' I blinked at my thought before rubbing my eyes. 'Wow…even in my head that sounded really douchey.'

But yeah it was true, Aphrodite was really attractive. Long curly black hair that reached her lower back, high cheekbones, unblemished skin and jade eyes. She had a toga like her mother and oddly enough her body shape was not as full as her mother's but seemed more "balanced", not too big (yes, there is a such thing) or not too small. Her overall physique looked very natural and nothing seemed out of place. She was perfect. Pierce blinked. He did it again. Then heavily sighed.

'I'm in an actual mythological heaven, meeting with Gods that have lived for millennia, and I'm here for information to go on a mission to kill a God...and I'm busy checking out Goddesses.' I rubbed my eyes before a smile appeared on my face. 'Heh, Bell sensei would be proud.' Remembering another one of my favorite light novels (can you tell my preference?) Zeus clapped his hands to get our attention.

"Once again, I must thank you kind Heroes for coming to Olympus's aid and we promise to those who had a hand in killing Zeth, your reward will be worthy of a God's head." Ending it there, Zeus and the other Olympians left the room and attendants soon came to bring us to our lodging. We all got up but I noticed Melissa was still sitting in a daze, so I went to tap on her shoulder.

"Melissa?" She didn't react. "Melissa?" Then she jumped up and looked around before locking eyes with me. "Are you ok-"

"Pierce!" She looked like she found her savior and started gesturing wildly with her arms. "There were storms and winds and lightning and a sun and a green field and even though it shouldn't be possible, they all started talking! What was that!?" Melissa finished, sweating and huffing for breathe. I only stared.

"Did…" I started. "Did you look at their auras and passed out?" Melissa growing red face said it all.

'Huh. Maybe I am qualified.' Pierce thought as he turned to follow the group, poor Melissa behind him running and yelling, "Hold on! Please explain what just happened! Wait!"

* * *

**3 Days Later, Top of Olympus**

I walked through the grand halls of the Greeks and for the past few days I found something that made consider converting to the religion. They had modern plumbing.

'This truly is the land of the Gods.' Sighing as I walked to my second favorite spot in the entire building, O entered a garden which was ten times the size of my own house and hanged on the edge of the mountain. The view was incredible and I sat down in a lotus position to go into Zen Mode. Taking a deep breath, I slowly let my mind clear and I could feel all the life around me. The flower and insects that in-habitat the space. The cool wind created by magic but still held bits of natural forces within. It was just so peaceful, and calm, and everything was completely in balan-

"Aaaaahhhhhh! I can't take it anymore!" I finally snapped and screamed out loud. "This whole fucking thing just doesn't make any sense!" At first it was fine; I thought we could rest a couple of days in literal heaven and then get down to business on how we're going to kill Zeth. Expect, no one said anything on the situation besides finding where he's hiding and killing his monster generals to stop them from planning revenge. 'For fucks sake, that's just a general idea not an actual plan!' Adrian said it will be not as straight forward as that so I let that go but even the Gods left us alone to figure it out by ourselves so I can't even ask the questions I had. Apollon met with Adrian to talk and he even played a song for us before leaving! 'He's a pretty cool guy not going to lie but come on man, give us something!' I sighed again (I've been doing that a lot since coming to this world) and rubbed my forehead as I stewed in my thoughts.

"…What doesn't make sense?"

"This whole shit show!" Not questioning where the voice came from, I vented. "I mean if Zeth is such a big threat why don't the Olympians deal with him themselves!? If my home was threatened by a mad God then I'll sure as hell go and take him out! But fine, they can be lazy and push the responsibilities to us but don't give us this monumental task and just continue to be…cryptic…as…hell?" I finally stopped and turned my head to where the voice came from.

It was a woman. A very beautiful woman reading a book. She had light brown hair that was done in a braid. She had an oval face with very valiant features. She was sitting down but I could tell she was taller than me and her eyes were a pretty sapphire color. She had light blue armor over her toga and even with it on I can tell she had a body that I'm pretty sure would cause nosebleed related deaths if ever seen in its full glory.

'10/10.' Being the honest man I am I gave a full assessment of the woman in front of me. I soon found myself staring and bringing myself out of it (it took longer than I'm proud to admit), I started a conversation.

"Um...Hi." I'm a riveting conversationalist as you can tell.

"Hello." But she took it in stride and gave me an amused smile. Coughing, hoping I wasn't blushing as hard as I thought I was, I walked towards her and reached out my hand. "Pierce."

She just stared at the outreached hand for a second before the amused smile became a grin filled with mirth and shook it back.

"Athena." My body locked up so hard, I honestly thought I heard a pop somewhere. Athena just continued grinning and her eyes started analyzing me. It was dead silent as I hoped she wasn't pissed since I pretty much said her entire family is lazy and irresponsible. I realized that she was sitting on the bench next to where I was crossed legged and I didn't sense her at all. 'Just like Ares. Is that something all war Deities can do or is it just them?'

"Well it's uh n-nice to meet you Athena." That was all I got.

Athena just met my eyes and that just made the silence more unbearable. It wasn't just because she was criminally beautiful and an actual Goddess but more because she was one of the Gods...who were sending us on this quest. Blinking, I slowly looked at Athena and stared at her. Athena just stared back with a cute tilt of her head, confused on why the young man in front of her was staring so hard at her now. It wasn't like before when he was appraising a new face, now it was like he wanted to ask a question but doesn't want to speak up.

"Can I ask you a question?" Never mind.

"Depends on the question."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "What the hell are you guys doing?" Athena just blankly looked.

"You're going to be more specific then that…"

"Oh, right sorry." I gathered my thoughts and went for it. "Why did you give us humans the job to kill Zeth? Can't you guys easily find him and do it yourselves? Why bother whatsoever with him and his monster army? I mean you guys are an entire pantheon, why does it matter if he builds a monster army can't you guys take it out when it gets here? Another thing…" At this point, the flood gates were open and every question both reasonable and unreasonable came out and when I was done, I held my breath and stared at Athena.

"...Finally." She shut the open book in her hands.

"What?"

"I said finally." Athena got up (she was a little taller than me) and looked at me like a teacher does to her favorite student. "Do you know how many Emissaries asked for more information then what we gave them?"

"Uh…"

"Not one. We gave them Zeths plans, his army information, and just with that they were content. Adrian being one of them." Athena sighed. "As a soldier he's quite at the top of what he does but he probably wanted to give you all the information the day before you start." I could only nod along.

"Well, since you're asking I might as well tell you."

"Really?" That was honestly shocking.

"It's not like its private war info; Adrian is just bad at gradually giving the whole plan." Yes, yes he is.

"So, I guess we should start with the reason why we don't just go after Zeth ourselves." Athena took a seat once more.

I nodded. "Yes, what's stopping you guys?"

"There are three reasons." Athena lifted three fingers than two down. "The first one is because of the unwritten rule among Pantheons. The rule states, "For the God who attacks first is forever condemned as the accused." We couldn't attack Zeth at the time."

I furrowed my brows but it kind of made sense and it would explain Shiva's actions in the original canon. Indra all but declared official war against the God of Destruction and was steadily building an army to combat him but Shiva never stopped Indra. This would explain why he never took action and Indra is arrogant enough to not care about being in the wrong.

"But wait, didn't he declare war against you guys and didn't you guys beat him up? Why didn't you just kill Zeth then?"

"He did declare war, yes and we did beat Zeth but we chose to put him in Olympus's prison." Athena sighed remembering their decision. "That was a mistake. It was his plan to be put in there and when he escaped Zeth took the magic codes to the all the captured Titans cages and threatened to unleash them all if a single God steps one foot off Olympus." My eyes widened at that and 2 words appeared in my mind.

'Dirty Bomb.' It was the supernatural equivalent of the modern dirty bomb. One flick and all of Olympus would be flooded with the Titan race just like what Rizevim will do with Trihexa to the world. "How many titans?"

"A little over a hundred." Athena shrugged her shoulders like it was nothing major.

"Over a hundred!" I on the other hand thought it was very major. "W-where are you even keeping that many!?" Athena just deadpanned and pointed downwards. I was confused at the gesture and looked to the ground she was pointing at.

'I don't get it. Is it somewhere in the sea? Or is it on Oly-" My brain finally understood what she was saying and my throat became parched. I looked back up at Athena.

"Please tell me you're kidding." Athena only shook her head.

"Why do you think we made this mountain so big? Sure, it's a nice view but it's not practical." My scalp felt numb and my feet tingled in a way that was really unsettling.

"W-why can't you guys just change the seals or whatever you have that's jailing them?" I was trying to find some comfort in this but Athena just wryly smiled.

"You can thank my father for that. Zeus regularly improved the magic seals that held back the Titans every few decades since their imprisonment but he always kept the central magic array the same and…

…Zeth took the key to the array." I finished for her and dropped to the ground, sitting there. It was like having an up-gradable iron safe, you gradually increased the metal quality but kept the same combination. "Well, your father shit the bed there."

"Yes, yes he did." Athena agreed with me.

"So whats the third reason?"

"Zeus's pride." My face must have been something if the way Athena laughed when she saw it. "I'm serious. There's a reason Zeth is so powerful and it's because Zeus was grooming him to be his successor. Zeth had other plans." Her father's rage that day when Zeth declared war against them was terrifying. "But he still let his feelings get in the way that day, by not killing Zeth he put Olympus in this situation."

I sighed and asked another question. "Did you guys really not notice that he was building a monster army before he declared war?" Apparently, Zeth already had 9 Generals with tremendous strength at the ready when he escaped Olympus.

"We noticed. We just didn't want to be the one to make the first blow." Athena brought up the unwritten rule again. "Zeth wants Olympus for his great monster kingdom and as long as we stay put, he won't unleash the titans since they'll just wreck everything."

Silence rang as the last of my questions were answered. The Gods didn't just want to dump their problem on us; they really can't do anything or risk Olympus being destroyed. They can beat the titans in a fight but the collateral damage and the possible deaths involved were inevitable, Zeth also could use that time to strike. Zeus also can't change the central magic array either since Zeth will know the moment its being messed with.

"Damn it." I cursed out loud. "I'm sorry Athena but we don't stand a chance against Zeth, even injured you Gods are probably something else."

"We know." I raised my head to look at her after that and she gave me lopsided grin.

"Did you honestly believe that we would just send the Emissaries straight after Zeth?"

I blinked at the trick question. "Uh…no?" Athena gave a very un-ladylike snort.

"It will take years for Zeth to reach full strength again, Hera and Artemis made sure to hit him with every curse they had before he escaped."

"That's doesn't change the fact that we don't stand a chance with our current selves." I may have kept downplaying our importance but it still felt like a really high hurdle.

"Do you?" Athena just gave me a knowing look. "Tell me Pierce, how would you take down a fortress?" I raised a brow to the question and thought about my answer.

"Well I would use overwhelming force to take it ov-"

"You don't have that."

"…Okay, then I'll get a man on the insid-"

"That's not going to work either."

Glaring a little at the cheshire smile Athena was sporting (and finding it really hot) I focused and finally thought of something as I shrugged.

"If none of that works, then the only thing left is to give up…

It was Athena's turn to glare at my cheeky smile.

…or just whittle down the fortress bit…by…ah!" I got up like I've seen the face of God (maybe if I was born a thousand years earlier) and turned to Athena who looked smug.

"Exactly." She explained. "Zeth declared war first and that's public knowledge to many other pantheons and factions. No one's going to give him asylum so he's hiding in a small pocket dimension and won't come out till he's healed."

"But?"

"But his general's are still on Earth, constantly recruiting more and more monsters into his army and they are who the Emissaries are going after." Athena was quite proud of the plan. "Adrian knew the plan and was going to tell you the moment he has the first target."

Now that was a plan.

The 9 Generals were still Ultimate-class beings and I wasn't confident on going against them head on but like they say, "All is fair in love and mythological war." Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was the saying. There was one final problem though.

"If we go after his army and we take them all out…what's stopping him from releasing the Titan's when he knows he's lost?" I got silence and when I thought Athena wasn't going to answer my question she spoke.

"Nothing, there is nothing we could do to stop him." Athena gained a forlorn expression. "Not every problem in life has an answer Pierce."

I had no respond to that. From a Goddess living as long as she has, it seemed even worse when she said it.

"…Alright." I bowed low to Athena. "Thank you. You pretty much cleared up all the questions I had so thank you."

"Don't mention it." Athena waved away my bow. "You were going find out anyway."

Nodding, I turned towards the door and made the trip back to my room before Athena called out to me.

"Pierce." I turned back towards her. "I hope you don't die." We both stared at each other, me with my face in a daze and Athena who, honest to God, blushed before stuttering, "I-I'm sorry. T-that sounded better in my head." And then she was gone. I could still feel her embarrassment in the air.

Blinking and staring at where she just was for a good 5 seconds, I eventually walked away and made it back to my room and laid in my bed.

'…Kawaii?' I didn't sleep at all that night.

* * *

And done. I hope this chapter clears up any confusion with how the general plan of this fic is going to go. If it doesn't, just ask and I'll try to explain it. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!


	9. Chapter 8

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**The Crowned Reaper**: It will be a harem. I'll try to make it as believable as possible and it will be gradual. If that turns you away then thanks for reading.

**The Phenex**: You are right in the Greek mythology that is how she came into existence but a lot of things are different in DxD when mythology is considered. It just seems easier to call her Zeus' and Hera's daughter. I know dragons come from pure energy so that back story can actually be possible if she was a dragon but it's never explained how Gods are made besides you know…the way everyone else makes life. I hope that little ramble puts any of your concerns to rest. Make more responses like that, I like responding to them.

**Night-Stryder**: No such thing as average? Yes, sadly there is. Pierce isn't like an overly handsome man or incredibly cute guy that any girl would remember for a good couple of minutes. He's a guy that you'd see on the street, see no real difference compared to everyone else and keep walking. That's what I do. It's not a perfect story? I know it's not and I hope to improve it. Aphrodite is not the daughter of Hera and Zeus? You are right but that's her origin in my story. Its Apollo not Apollon? It's Apollon in DxD. The God's logic makes no sense? If someone told you they'll turn your home into a minor apocalypse if you go after them, you aren't personally going after them. You find a loop hole. I.E. the Emissaries. Still, you thought my story was interesting enough to take time out of your life to make that long ass comment so thanks. I hope you enjoy future chapters as well.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Highschool VxV**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and we all know that but I have to put it in every chapter anyway, damn you copyright! The OC's are mine and mine alone.

* * *

**Top of Olympus**

Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Pleasure. The Romans called her Venus and has been around since right after the Titanomachy. She enjoyed a grand life and very few can say they've enjoyed better. The title of Princess of Olympus truly brings perks that would make many Devils die from envy (some actually have). Like many Gods and Goddess', her room was an entire dimension the size of a city and she can choose to make it whatever she wants. Today, this Goddess of Love was in the middle of a serene forest and a large king sized bed was out in the field completely out of place. Aphrodite was lying on her bed and many animals like doves, deer's, and foxes were all around her. From the look on her face, anyone could see she was completely and utterly…

'Bored out of my skull.' Sighing again, Aphrodite petted the deer next to her and it licked her hand. That brought a small smile to her face. "You wouldn't happen to have an idea on what I could do right now?" The cute red deer just tilted its head before nuzzling her nose. That brought a laugh to the Goddess. "Yeah, I figured as much."

"I have an idea to relieve your boredom." Aphrodite looked up and saw Artemis standing at the foot of her bed. Artemis was just like many legends depicted her. A beautiful tan woman who had free flowing black hair that stopped at her shoulders and no matter what never gets in her way in battle or hunting (everyone thinks it's a magic spell that she created personally just for that but she wasn't telling). She had an average height with toned muscles but with the right balance of womanly curves that even Aphrodite peeks at her body every once and awhile.

"Thanks Artemis, but I'm not in the mood today." Contrary to popular belief, Aphrodite wasn't some sex starved deviant that jumped at the chance to do the deed whenever the opportunity presented itself…not anymore anyway. 'Ah, the golden years.' You do a lot of fun and stupid things when you're a young, impressible Goddess. 'Like become the patron of a cult of prostitutes (that was fun).'

"You know that wasn't what I meant." Artemis deadpanned at Aphrodite.

"I know, doesn't mean I can't mess with you." Stretching as she sat up, Aphrodite smirked as Artemis gave her an extra long glance over before blushing and coughing. 'Still got it.' Understatement of the millennium.

"So…" Artemis tried to steer the conversation before they got anymore off track. "You up for it?"

An odd expression appeared on Aphrodite before she relented and just accepted. Artemis picked up this weird hobby where she marks certain people that she finds interesting, spies on their habits and goes in for the kill. Basically, she pranks them. It honestly made no sense (Aphrodite thought she was going through a mid very long life crisis) but after awhile she just learned to roll with it and it was pretty funny when they pranked Apollon that one time. 'It took 3 years for his voice to get back to normal. Everyone kept calling him Helios (Helium).' Aphrodite laughed remembering how incredibly high pitched Apollon's voice was and followed after Artemis. They quickly reached the one of the side gardens and saw an ordinary looking young man crossed legged on the grass.

"That him?"

"Yep." Artemis nodded.

"Why him?" Aphrodite had to ask. "There's nothing special about him."

"You might want to take a closer look." Aphrodite used her divine senses to see what Artemis was talking about and now was shocked.

'I-is he really human?' The young man's life force was very impressive. He had near perfect control of his current life energy and it was abnormally dense at that. "A Sage?"

"Nope. He hasn't tried to synchronize with nature since coming here and just works on his own _Chi_. I honestly want to see him try to. It's been centuries since a human Sage appeared in the world." Being the Goddess of Hunting, Artemis loves nature and very much respects those that have come to harmonize with the world. The sad thing is that after so many wars and conflicts have happened, the Earth has become polluted. Malice was heavy in the air and that's why there hasn't been a human Sage in so long, most humans can't handle the strain on their mind.

"So are you going to prank him?"

"Hell yeah!" Artemis said before sighing. "Is what I would usually say but he's one of the members of an Emissaries group and Zeus really doesn't want us to mess with them."

"So basically what you're saying is you brought me out of my bed for nothing." That was all Aphrodite cared about.

Artemis blushed before saying, "like you were doing anything and I was trying to show you something interesting! Whatever, I'm going to go hunting." She stormed off after seeing how ungrateful Aphrodite was being.

Aphrodite just shook her head at her fellow Goddess' childish act and turned to leave but stopped when she saw the young man's _Chi_ flare and he tried to manipulate and shape it.

'He can manipulate _Chi_ that well?' Aphrodite raised an impressed brow and watched as he tried (and failed) to shape his life energy how he wanted. After awhile, she shook her head and walked up to the young man.

"You're doing it wrong."

* * *

**1 Hour Earlier**

'Great…now I feel like a whiny brat.' I sighed as I remembered what happened this morning. Athena was right, Adrian was trying in his own way to gather information and when he had a plan (a pretty good one too) he gathered the team and explained who of the 9 Generals we were going after first. When it was done, I walked up to Adrian and apologized for being impatient. 'Boy was he confused on where that came from.' Adrian had no idea what I was talking about but he just patted my shoulder and said to be ready to move. So after hanging out and exploring a part of the Olympus I haven't seen yet with Maven and Melissa, I made my way to the garden once more. I was hoping to meet Athena again to thank her for explaining everything like she did. I entered Zen Mode when I saw no one was in the garden and after awhile I channeled my Chi to test something.

'Now how do I do this?' Chi coating my hands in a warm, white glow I slowly manipulated it into the image of my sword and I succeeded…until it disintegrated into hundreds of little light particles. I furrowed my brow. 'What happened? What did I do wrong?' I tried forming something else from my Chi but something simpler, like a ball. But that didn't last that long either as it also disintegrated. '…Okay, what's going on?' Now I was really confused but before I can try one more time a voice spoke up behind me.

"You're doing it wrong."

I turned around and my eyes widened as Aphrodite stood over me and she looked down at me training with Chi. I was shocked a bit by her beauty (she was up close now too) before her words soaked in and I frowned.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that you do the construct well enough but you stop maneuvering the Chi when it's done."

"Isn't that what you're supposed to do? You know, to make it solid." Aphrodite looked at me with a weird face before asking me a question.

"What would happen if the Chi in your body stopped moving all together?"

Looking at her like she's crazy I answered. "My _Chi_ is my life force. If that stops moving it will disperse from my body and I'll di-" I stopped and saw what she meant. "Oh…"

"Yeah, oh…" Aphrodite lightly shook her head. "Try it again but this time, only use a certain amount of _Chi_ and constantly keep the _Chi_ circulating." Doing as she said I made a sword again but kept the Chi inside flowing and it stabilized. Looking it over, it was just a clear, white glowing sword (like an Angel's but not as bright) and it felt sturdy when I knocked on it. The outside was hard while the inside had flowing Chi to give to the outer layer when it was damaged.

'Wow…that's weak as hell.' I wryly smiled when my simple knock made the sword construct dim and a sizable amount of Chi inside was used up. Aphrodite must have seen my expression as she hit me lightly in the head.

"Don't be greedy. You took a lot less time than most people would have to learn that." Aphrodite admonished my disappointment. "Even I took a couple of hours to learn to do that."

My eyes widened. "You know how to use _Chi_?"

"Yeah, I went with Athena and Ares to learn how a long time ago." She shrugged at the memory. "It was a time in my life I felt productive but I only learned the basics."

"Is that why I can't sense Ares or Athena? Did you guys learn to hide your _Chi_?" That would make sense why I can feel the other Gods but not them.

"Yeah but it is possible to hide your aura without knowing Chi. You either need magic or a magical artifact." Aphrodite crouched down (giving me a very generous view of her perfect legs) and observed my sword. "Keep working on it and your constructs should one day reach a level your satisfied with." Quickly nodding and thanking her for the advice I started making other stuff out my Chi. I made different stuff from blades to utensils and I even made a statue of myself.

"Why are you only making objects?" Aphrodite's voice spoke up again and asked. I was so into making stuff, I forgot for a second that the Goddess of Beauty was next to me. I slightly frowned at that thought. 'Why do I feel I fail as a man?'

I shook my head and looked at her. "What do you mean? Can I make living beings with _Chi_?"

"To an extent." She nodded.

"But I thought that was something only Devil's and Angel's could do. I heard their powers are more involved with imagination and good sense then nature."

Aphrodite nodded at my words. "That is true but Chi is similar if barely. It doesn't have the sheer freedom of a Devil's power or the destructive capabilities of an Angel's but if it exists in nature you can make it. Try it out." I nodded and was about to before I stopped and looked back up at Aphrodite.

"Why are you helping me so much?" I probably should have asked that earlier but I wasn't thinking.

"I'm bored." The Goddess of Beauty deadpanned.

"…Fair enough." I was a simple man at heart so I took that at face value and concentrated. Closing my eyes, I tried to think of an animal. Nothing came to mind.

'Seriously? I've hunted since I was 5 how am I blanking here?' Concentrating extra hard, an image finally appeared and I held onto it. A small figure, hind legs, large ears, and it was fluf-

'Wait a minute.' My Chi already formed the animal in my head and what appeared on the ground was…a small rabbit.

"…"

"…"

"…A bunny?" Aphrodite's voice was steady. The baby rabbit was completely made out of Chi so it looked more ethereal than anything but its nose and ears were twitching just like a real one. I started sweating.

"Doe-does this mean anything?" I asked her with trepidation and she solemnly nodded.

"Yes it does." Aphrodite paused for dramatic effect and I was fully paying attention. "It's your spirit animal and the form destiny picks for you and tells how far you'll get in life." I couldn't pale harder.

'A rabbit…a freaking rabbit! Are you kidding me!? How the hell am I supposed to go against a God with a spirit animal like that!' I was internally freaking out and I never noticed the subtle twitch on her lips. 'Oh this is bad. This is really bad! Don't spirit animal supposed closely relate to you or something?! So why did I get the weakest mammal in the whole damn animal kingdom!? Oh god, I'm going to die…Oh fucking hell, I'm so de-' My thoughts were cut off because the Goddess of Beauty burst out laughing and I just blankly stared at her doing so, my brain finally figuring out she was joking. My face felt like a furnace.

'…Did I really just fall for that?' My face was in my hand and it only got redder as Aphrodite laughed harder. 'Jesus Christ, it wasn't even that funny! She knew what she was talking about till now so I just believed everything she said…' Eventually, her laughing started slowing down.

"Haha…hahaha…ha…" Aphrodite caught her breath and saw that I was glaring her. "Oh don't look at me like that, it was a joke." She waved my glare away and gave me a wide grin. She soon picked up the small Chi creature and played with it. "It's just the first animal you thought of, it doesn't mean anything." She sat down and placed the rabbit on her lap. It snuggled up on her thighs and laid there.

'Lucky bastard…' I never thought I would be jealous of a rabbit. '…and I created the damn thing.'

"Try again." Aphrodite said while stroking the rabbit.

Prying my eyes from the Goddess and concentrating once more, I thought of a red deer and placed my hands forward. A steam of Chi flowed out from me and it slowly became the animal I thought of. There was one problem though.

"Why is it so hazy looking?" The life sized deer I created was blurry and some parts looked warped.

"That happens to a lot of Chi-users who are just trying it." Aphrodite explained. "All things considered, yours is very good for a beginner. But I think their time is up." As she said this, the rabbit I created disintegrated and the deer I just made as well. "For any Chi constructs you would need a vivid and sometimes personal understanding of what you're trying to make." I listened to her explanation and took a pause.

"Personal huh…"

Aphrodite watched as Pierce's face became thoughtful and he reached out once more for his Chi, using far more than he did before. Even she was shocked at the amount Chi Pierce had at his disposal. 'A Great Yokai has him beat when it comes to application and experience but his sheer amount of Chi and its density isn't too far behind one.' Pierce was done by the time her thought was over and she stood up to observe his creation. It was a man and a woman. The man was a bit over average height, his shoulders were broad, and with shaggy hair much like Pierce's. He was sporting a goofy smile on his face. The woman was pretty, with an oval face, nice hair and had a full but strong physique. Even as a construct she seemed to hold a large amount of love and protectiveness in her eyes. Pierce slowly walked up to them and they looked at him.

"Heh…it hasn't even been 2 weeks…" The Goddess of Beauty heard Pierce chastise himself real low and watched as he hugged the 2 constructs. They hugged him back. They stood like that for a minute before they also disintegrated and Pierce stood alone again. He rubbed his eyes and turned to the Goddess.

"Thank you." He looked tired. "I needed that."

"…Don't mention it." They were both silent after that.

"Well." I spoke first. "I better go back and get ready. I leave tomorrow to scout out a location a General may appear."

"Have you ever been there?"

"No but I think I'll be fine. It's just recon." I went to leave but turned back and spoke. "By the way, do you guys have a tailor up here?" Aphrodite was confused by his question but nodded in the end.

"Yes, he's in the East wing but why?" She wondered what I was wanted made.

I gave a small smile. "Let's just say…it will be worth it." Aphrodite's confused face just made me all the happier.

* * *

**1 Day Later, Constantinople**

The Sun low in the sky shined over a great and beautiful city which rested on the Bosporus River. It lied between the boundary of Asia and Europe which connected it to many different bodies of water. Being the richest and largest urban center in Europe, it has seen its fair share of war and change but it stood strong and now was under the ownership of the Ottoman Empire. The Sultan at the time Mehmed II made it the capital of his empire, built a Grand Bazaar, and even constructed a palace and it's where the current Sultan chooses to live. Harbors surrounded the city as the majority of it faced the sea. A large commercial boat landed on one of its harbors and many men started getting off, bringing their cargo and goods to the busy streets of Constantinople. Melissa and I also walked out of this boat and observed the great city for ourselves.

"Wow, it's really beautiful." It truly deserved to be called a capital of an Empire. Many buildings from many different cultures populated the city but they were arranged in a way that it seemed right. I could see schools, shops, restaurants, and even some bath houses. Many people from different ethnic religions lived here as they walked the busy streets such as Christians, Jews, and Muslims. It was incredible and I just wanted to explore the cosmopolitan society…

"Hey Pierce there's a restaurant over there, let's go!" and Melissa just wanted to eat. Sighing in fond exhaustion, I couldn't find fault with her. I was hungry too and that was before the boat ride. Ordering our food, we waited by a table and looked around.

"I'm really glad Maven gave us these translation necklaces." Melissa said playing with the magical artifact. Calling it an "artifact" was a bit much but damn was it useful when you're going to places that don't speak your first language.

'Not that I'll ever need to learn a second one with this on me.' Thanking the waitress that brought us our food we dug in. "Hmmm. Nothing like good food after a long ass boat ride." I devoured the rice, chicken, and beans I ordered.

"Definitely." Melissa agreed as she was already done.

'Where does it all go?' I looked at Melissa's toned stomach and only shook my head. 'She even ordered more than me.' I quickly finished as well.

"So." Melissa started. "Did you pick up anything?"

I nodded at her question. The moment we landed I activated Chi Vision and quickly found multiple hostiles. "Yeah and we are definitely in the right place." Fun fact, my Chi Vision that can see all auras in a 10 kilometer radius is considered a high level technique in the Yokai race as far as sensing capabilities go (when I told Melissa this it took nearly 1 hour to convince her I wasn't a Yokai in disguise). "We should go to the hideout and put down that array." Melissa just nodded and we got up, paid for the meal, and made our way to the designated location. Melissa kept glancing towards me as we walked and fidgeted.

"Melissa, I know I'm incredibly handsome but your staring is going to make me blush you know." Melissa just deadpanned at my joke and lightly kicking me.

"It's not that." A light blush appeared on her face before worry replaced it. "Are-aren't you hot in that?"

'Oh, that's the reason.' Ignoring her interesting reaction, I looked down at my attire and smiled. I was wearing my typical outfit (black pants with a green shirt) but I also had a black leather coat and a wide rimmed black hat. "Maven put cooling runes on the coat and hat so I don't get a heat stroke." Though the looks I was getting proved Melissa's worry, I was out of place. Why was I wearing an outfit that looked oddly similar to a certain monster hunting badass in the Middle East? "Beside, this is traditional vampire hunting attire you know." It's because we were going against motherfucking vampires.

"Okay…" Melissa just oddly looked at me before pointing at my waist. "But what's with the bag of pellets?"

I gave her a cryptic smile and said. "I told you, I'm going hunting." Poor Melissa looked more lost than ever.

We eventually reached the hideout and quickly got to work once inside. Melissa started putting defensive Youjustu spells all over the room and I drew up a teleportation array on the floor of the living room. The reason we couldn't just have Maven teleport us to Constantinople was because she has never been there and has no marker here. She could still send us but if she does it without a marker then a "magic pulse" will be sent out and that could possibly tip off the General we were going after.

1 of the 9 Generals of Zeth, Vampire Lord Count Froid was in Constantinople.

I had to do it; I mean it's an actual Vampire Lord! Who wouldn't?!

Jokes aside, there were actually 3 reasons we chose to go after him first. The first was because of me and Melissa. While _Chi_-users were typically more vulnerable to the life sucking beings called vampires, we also had an edge against them. A vampire's aura was very similar to a humans but it had the glaring characteristic of visibly decreasing when not consuming blood for long periods of time. Count Froid may have the magic capabilities to conceal his aura but not his subordinates if the way I already found some just proved. Besides, we know how he looks and my _Chi Vision_ can actually see through low level illusions (Melissa dropped that helpful tidbit). The second was because of influence. In terms of power Froid was in the mid rankings but when it came to connections? The guy has contacts in pretty much every major power in the current age from England to Spain and obviously the Ottomans since he's here. Information is power, especially in war. He needed to be taken out. The last reason would be Adrian. Apollon's blessing gave him minor manipulation over light and its light with the Sun attribute…we'd be stupid not to go after the vampire with so many tools to combat him. Adrian can also add the Sunlight Attribute to any weapon or tool and already blessed my sword.

"I'm done." I spoke after finishing my work.

"Give me a second…" Melissa kept drawing symbols in the air and they flowed into the wall. "…and done." The room seemed to glow with a gold haze before returning to normal.

"Wow that is impressive." I could sense a large amount of _Chi_ in the walls and it constantly moved in a way that gave the room different effects. 'Steel like stability, concealment, and…' I blinked at the last and looked at Melissa. "Is that temperature control?"

She looked a little bashful at the question. "It was hot."

I shook my head good-naturedly and walked towards the exit. "Come on. Let's go see that contact Adrian told us about." Melissa caught up and we walked out into the street and towards the Grand Bazaar. Here's the thing, we know Froid is here and we know that he has a thrall in a high position of power to make it easier to move around. We just don't know what his plan actually is. The original idea was to look around and try to interrogate any vampire we found till we could figure it out. Then Adrian got in contact with this broker who told him that a noble in Constantinople is need of help and has information that can be useful to our mission. That's who me and Melissa were our way to meet. I only had one problem with the whole thing.

'There are supernatural brokers but not supernatural mercenaries? I call bullshit!' Murmuring low as we walked to the noble's location, I silently vowed to make supernatural mercenaries a thing if I live through this. The Grand Bazaar was as advertised; a large area covered with many tarps and had dozens if not hundreds of merchants selling their products. Many things from all across the world were sold here and more than once did me and Melissa stop to look at anything interesting (the noble wasn't supposed to get to the spot till mid day). I saw the Bazaar's guards give me intense stares and just kindly smiled back.

"Hey Pierce, check this out!" Melissa was playing with a small trinket that looked like a puzzle cube. I looked down at the table where she got it and found a very beautiful brooch that was selling for dirt cheap. It was in the shape of a lotus.

"Hey Melissa look at thi-" I turned to tell her about buying the brooch but she was already 2 stalls down. 'She has so much energy! I'm starting to believe she's a hummingbird Yokai instead.' Shaking my head, I stared at the brooch and bought it in the end. I walked over to give it to her but stopped to think about it. 'Is that a good idea? Will that send the wrong message? I mean I think she's very attractive and nice but we're in the middle of a mission and…' I eventually walked over to Melissa and handed it to her. "Here I thought this would look nice on you." I said this and chose to not over think it. I'm on a quest to kill a God and I might die at any time so I better not hesitate on anything I want to do (it's kind of sad it takes the threat of death to make me this proactive, I was never like this in my past life). Melissa looked at the brooch and blushed before silently taking it and placing it on her collar. She turned to a bucket of water that was open on the side and observed her new accessory.

"I love it." She looked back up at me; face still flushed with a small smile. "Thank you."

"No problem." We stood silent for a second before a sigh rang out.

"For the love of Allah, get a room…" The guard on the side was tired of our little show and we both coughed before leaving to the noble's location. If it wasn't for Melissa purposely brushing her hand against mine a couple of times during the walk over, I would have thought I messed up. I'll admit it; I had a stupid grin on my face.

That was until we got to the spot.

"...Melissa?"

"…Hmm?"

"…We're in the right place aren't we?"

"…Yeah." She said that one with a sigh.

"Great." I sighed as well and rubbed my forehead. The location the noble chose was an average looking tavern that was in a decent looking neighborhood. The problem? The tavern was full of vampires and there was no one on the streets near them. 'And the universe is in balance.' I snorted at the whole situation. I see a semblance of a chance with a super sexy Yokai and now I have to go into a tavern infested with blood thirsty monsters that want to kill me. 'Actually, when I think of it like that it is kind of funny.' Why can't we just walk away? That would be because I can feel a faint aura that was human inside and I'll go on a limb and assume that's the noble we're supposed to meet.

"Melissa." I turned my head to the Yokai. "Get in my shadow."

She nodded and stood where my shadow was and slowly sunk into it. I waited till she was completely in and walked towards the taverns doors and opened them. It was a decent sized tavern with a lot of the patrons inside mingling and talking. It was sad they were all vampires. It became less sad when I could physically feel the hostility and hunger they had towards me when I stepped through the door. Face calm, I walked towards the bar and was met with an Arab man that was cleaning a glass. He would look more convincing if he wasn't washing the glass with a dirty rag. 'They were waiting for us.' I smiled at the man and had Chi Vision active just to be safe. Yep, all 46 in here are vampires.

'This should be fun.' I sarcastically thought as I tested the waters. "I'm here to meet a friend. Can you help me find him?" Boy that got a reaction. The killing intent skyrocketed as I could "see" the patrons behind start fidgeting. "Actually, you know what how about a drink first." The man gave me an odd look (he probably thought I had no idea what was going on) before he chose to turn around and reach for something on the shelf.

'Dumbass.' I sent a Seismic Fist to the bloodsuckers head and turned his brain to mash before his head exploded. Before the body hit the floor, I turned around and caught 2 vampires that lunged at me by their throats and squeezed. 2 clear snaps were heard as I dropped them both to the ground. Touki now on, I sidestepped another enemy who tried to tackle me and cleanly loped his head off with my sword that magically appeared in my hand. Maven created a space ring that you can store a decent amount of things in (my sword, my traveling bag, money, etc). 'I got to remember to thank her later.' All the vampires were standing now and at the ready to charge at me. Melissa gave my ankle a small squeeze meaning she was ready. I tipped my hat to the room full of vampires.

"Gentlemen." Then they all rushed at me.

Slicing off the heads of 2 vampires, I rolled to the side to avoid the dog pile. One of them picked up a table and swung it at me but I just cut through the table and them. A second one tried to flank me and I kicked him in the face sending him flying. 3 more came at me from my back but 3 black tendrils shot out from my shadow and skewered their heads. That wasn't all as many of the vampires shadows turned against them and started holding them in place. I killed those that were immobilized. Another had a sword and swung at me but my blade coated with Chi sliced through his like butter. Me and Melissa made quick work of the enemy and in 5 minutes more than ¾ were dead (well…deader). I quickly jumped to the side as the enemy starting throwing projectiles that pierced even the concrete floor.

'Are those…made of blood?' I saw the blood red dagger and looked up. They were indeed taking cutting themselves and forming daggers outs of the spilt blood. 'Wow, that has got to-' I picked up a table and coated it with Chi to stop the next wave. 'Okay then, if you want to play it like that.' I reached a hand into the bag on my waist and smiled as I took out a handful of pellets. Coating them all in Chi; I waited till they stopped throwing, placed the table down, and tossed the pellets at the vampires. It was like shooting a shotgun but with better range and piercing. It shredded 10 vampires and even then the last remaining 2 still ran at me before a shadow tendril shot from the side and pierced through both their heads. Melissa walked out my shadow and looked at the scene of carnage.

"That…was easier than I imagined." That was all she said. I had to agree.

"They're auras said they were vampires and they definitely had the blood lust but they were still so…weak." Don't get me wrong, they were fast and physically strong but they weren't super humanly so. Just a bit above average. I looked at the room where the human aura was. "Let's go see the noble." I walked upstairs with Melissa right behind. Opening the door, I saw a man tied up and lying on the floor. Quickly picking him up and setting him on the bed, it didn't take long for the man to wake up.

"Get off of me!" The man violently shrugged off our hands and looked at us in rage before confusion appeared. "w-who are you? State your name?!" He looked at us cautiously. Me and Melissa just looked at each other and shrugged. "Gazanfer Aga? Adrian sent us." That got a reaction out of the man as hope entered his eyes before suspicion appeared. "Then what's the password?"

My lips warped in a strange way before coughing and with a straight faced said. "The cake is a lie." I was really happy Adrian took my advice and made that the password. The look of relief on the Gazanfer's face just made it better.

"Thank God…" Gazanfer breathed a sigh of relief and I cut his restraints. He rubbed his arms and stood up. "Please you must help me. Those monsters they-they'll destroy everything!" He got more anxious as he spoke.

"Hold on. Speak slowly and start at the beginning." Melissa and I sat down as Gazanfer told us his reason for bringing us out here. At the end of it we couldn't believe it and looked at each other.

"…Well fuck." That was me.

* * *

**1 Hour Later**

After making sure Gazanfer made it back to the palace since he was apparently the Chief of the White Eunuchs (that's probably why they didn't outright kill him), we made our way back to the hideout. When we got back everyone was here sitting in the living room.

"How did it go?" Adrian looked up from his book.

"Well, we got some good news and we got some bad news." I sat on the couch and Melissa sat in a wooden chair.

"What's the good news?" Vargas spoke

"That this is definitely the right place and I think we found out who Froid's thrall is." They were all impressed with our proficiency.

"Well done." Adrian commended our efforts. "Who's the thrall?"

"Actually that's the bad news." Melissa inputted. "It's the mother of the current Sultan and the real ruling power of the empire, Safiye Sultan." It was dead silent after that.

"…Oh darn." Guess who that was.

* * *

And done. The first target is picked and the ball starts to roll. I think I did the fight scene well enough and long enough. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	10. Chapter 9

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Bachi the cat**: You're a little right. Some babies don't cry when they are born but a lot do. The one's Evergreen has helped deliver all have and that is what he's used to. It was more of the fact that Pierce's eyes had a look to them that did NOT belong to a newborn baby that freaked him out so much. I know I would be. So when Pierce finally cried like every other baby Evergreen delivered, he felt that was Pierce was normal and he was just being paranoid. As for being able to see the first couple seconds of being born...eh, i had to give Pierce some piece of mind. I know I wouldn't want to see nothing for the first 4 weeks of my life, I'd go crazy.

* * *

**Chapter 9: Blood in High Places**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD. I wonder if the first Highschool DxD fanfic did this. The OC's are mine. I wonder who made the first OC. Ah the questions I'm too lazy to research.

* * *

**2 Days Later, Constantinople**

In the hideout, the team was looking through the many files that Melissa stole from the palace archives to help shed some light on the current situation in Constantinople, for both the political scene and military.

"Let's go back and pick a new target." Maven said that 3 times already and it sounded more tempting every time she brought it up.

Sighing, Adrian turned to me. "Are you sure she is the thrall?" I nodded without a shadow of a doubt. The moment we found out that Safiye really is Froid's thrall was when I staked out the palace with Vargas and she was making a speech. A vampire's aura was emitting from her body and with _Chi Vision_ I saw through her illusion spell, seeing her new form. She was younger, paler. Vampires can make peerages just like how Devils can by biting the neck of their victim and to have a member that's completely under your control it needs to be done under the full moon. Froid knew the change in appearance would raise a few flags and made sure put up some illusion spells to hide it. We were lucky he felt lazy and half-assed the spell.

"That poor woman." Samantha gave her sympathies. "To live through so much, only to become nothing more than a monster's eternal puppet."

"Well, we're not doing much sitting and reading here." I placed the files down and stretched. "We meet with Gazanfer soon. Hopefully he has an idea on what Froid's plan is."

"Yeah but I got to say her son is a real piece of work." We all groaned at Vargas's words.

Our reaction wasn't baseless. Mehmed III was responsible for the majority of the mess the empire was in and subsequently might need to clean up to get to Froid. Vampires thrived in the seedy underbelly of humanity's darkness and corruption and boy was there plenty of that in the current Sultan's palace. The moment his father, Mehmed II died and he took the throne, he chose to have all 19 of his brothers and half brothers killed in their sleep to secure his power. 'And here I thought Naizer was bad.' Funny thing was that Mehmed III didn't have that much ambition and was an idle ruler at best. Public opinion on his fratricide made the Sultan's reputation plummet and even then he didn't take an active role in the government. His actions made the already tense political scene worse since a lot of government officials supported the brothers he killed. So he left all government control to his mother and valide Sultan, Safiye Sultan.

"This is why I hate politics." I got a round of agreements. "What I want to know is how did Froid even get to Safiye and make her his thrall? Isn't there some super strong human in the palace with a high class Sacred Gear? Where is he in all this?"

"**Arsenal Speech**." Maven spoke while rubbing her eyes from reading. "It's a Sacred Gear that's allows you to "speak" to any ownerless weapon or armor. The equipment spoken to bends to the users will and can make it do anything they want."

"…What does that even mean?"

"It means…" Maven huffed. "…that if you command a sword to float it will float, or if you want suits of armor to fight for you they will. Hell, I heard the last inheritor of the Sacred Gear asked the blade of a fallen warrior what happened to him and the sword told him who killed the warrior and when."

"Wow, that's pretty awesome." I couldn't help envy the holder before frowning. "Wait, what do you mean inheritor? I thought the moment a person dies the Sacred Gear goes back to the Biblical God's system." Maven nodded at my words.

"That's true, but the Ottomans have an Extraction Artifact they've kept since their founding. The first time a user with **Arsenal Speech** appeared it was one of their soldiers and he offered his Sacred Gear after growing old. They proceeded to give the Sacred Gear to other loyal soldier's one after the other until the current time where the Chief Guard, Mehmed Pasha, protects the Sultan."

'Extraction Artifact? Is that what Raynare uses on Asia?' I remembered the canon and they seemed the same but one thing didn't make sense. "Why doesn't the Ottoman Empire just capture other Sacred Gear users and take their Sacred Gears?"

"They can't do that because the Extraction Artifact only works on the first thing it was ever used on and that was **Arsenal Speech**." Maven's explanation made some sense. "There are only 2 other people that we need to worry about in that palace. The wielder of the Holy sword **Dyrnwyn** and the only other Sacred Gear user who wields **Fragment of ****Kukulkan."**

"A holy sword?" Now that got my attention. "Who has it? What does it do?"

"Some man named Liam and when a worthy person wields it, burning flames cover the sword."

I blinked at that. "What happens if you're not a worthy person?"

"You blow up." Maven deadpanned

"…Never mind." Shame, I really want a holy sword (or demon sword, I'm not celibate). Of course, I don't know if I'm a natural born holy or demon sword wielder but if not I'll find a way around it I swear! Daddy wants a magic sword!

"What does the **Fragment of Kukulkan **do?" Melissa asked.

"I don't know." The room went silent as we all stared at Maven like she grew an extra head. She blushed and got an angry red. "I don't know everything! Stop looking at me like that!" We all chuckled at her reaction and I made for the roof to overlook the city. 'If there wasn't a vampire every five blocks, I would have loved to take mom and dad here.' I watched the streets as the sun was setting, lights we all over the city as lanterns and fire posts were put on every street corner. I thought over the last couple of days and sighed when I saw a kid with his parents going about their everyday lives. 'That was me at some point. At least I have the ability to protect myself if shit ever goes south.' Small victories and all that, I just wish my knowledge of DxD was more helpful.

"What are you thinking about?" Melissa came and stood next to me

"Nothing really, it's just…I'm nowhere a forest."

"…Huh?" I've been confusing Melissa a lot lately

"Sorry, I blurted that out without thinking." I gave an apologetic smile and continued. "I lived in a small town for 16 years and every day I would go into the forest for something. For food or to explore; hell I would go in just to relax." Melissa kept quiet as she watched me talk. "I wanted to leave and when I did, I visited Norwich, London, Olympus (big jump there), and now we're in Constantinople and I just realized…there's no forest anywhere." I had no idea what I was saying but it was how I felt and I needed to tell someone before I went crazy.

Melissa saw that I was done and spoke. "I know what you mean."

"You do?" To be completely honest, I don't know what I mean.

"It's your habit." Melissa stared down at the street and continued. "When my clan found out I had a soul link they trained me how to harness it when I was 12. Every day I would come home tired and I would pass by this old turtle that never moved from this small pond. Whenever I could, I would go sit by the pond and the old turtle would make its way to me and sit with me." Melissa looked forlorn. "My parents were very proud of what I could do and I could never bring myself to tell them I was tired of the lessons, so I talked to the turtle. It was always something different. What I had to eat that day, or how my lesson went, or even about how the weather was." A smile appeared on Melissa face. "For a time I thought the old turtle was a Yokai since it always seemed to listen to what I was saying but it never spoke. Then one day, Adrian and Samantha found me and offered me a spot on the team and…here we are. No old turtle anywhere to talk to." We stood there, looking over the city before Melissa grabbed my hand.

"Come on. We need to go meet Gazanfer." She guided me down the stairs and out the building, in the direction of the meeting. We never let go of each other's hand.

* * *

**30 Minutes Later**

"…Oh I swear to God, if we need to save him from another vampire infested tavern…" My patience, along with Vargas' and Melissa's, was starting to run out. Thankfully, Gazanfer walked through the front door and spotted us. Hurrying in our direction he took a seat and started. "I'm really sorry, they were watching every exit in the palace and I couldn't leave without drawing suspicion." I activated _Chi Vision_ and saw that no vampires were following him. 'Did they not want to lose anymore men?'

Adrian waved his hand. "Its fine, but start when this all began and when you saw the valide Sultan acting strange." Nodding his head, Gazanfer thought for a second then begun.

"It all started when his Majesty went to personally conquer the city Eger. He took Lord Liam and Chancellor Malcolm to the battle field to lay waste to his enemies and successfully won the battle. Head Guard Pasha was the only one guarding the palace at the time and when I came back from a hearing in the east side of the city that night, her Majesty started acting strange. Many reforms were soon taken that further unsettled the officials she tried to appease when Mehmed III came into power a year ago. Then, she started allowing her son's debauched life style to become even more deprived and he couldn't go on anymore wars because of his declining health. Finally, she started taking long absences and she typically spent them in her room with no one allowed in. She killed the last maid servant who entered without permission, and that maid servant was with her for close to a decade! She's gone mad I tell you! Please tell me, what is happening?!" Gazanfer leaned back in his chair after the whole story and he visibly looked older. Adrian started explaining who and what Froid was, leaving out he's 1 of 9 generals under a monster God (no point giving the guy even more stress). Gazanfer look completely horrified at the new information.

"By Allah…" He placed his hands on his face and murmured. "That explains everything…why her majesty made those new rules…and why she put Lord Liam in jail."

"Wait, what!?" I stood up at that. "The Holy Sword user is in jail?!" Gazanfer nodded.

"Her Majesty condemned him for corruption and unlawful use of force. He's to be executed for his crimes." I looked at the man before pacing with a thoughtful expression on my face.

"That makes sense. Froid wouldn't want a Holy Sword user out and about for whatever he's planning." Vargas said with a knowing nod.

"Yeah, but we still don't know where he is and what he's doing here."

"He's not in Constantinople." Gazanfer spoke up at Adrian's comment. "That vampire Froid? He's not here. Black hair, thin, with ruby eyes and a croaked nose?" We all nodded at his description.

"Then, where is he? And how do you know he's not?" Melissa asked what we were all thinking.

"Her Majesty brought him in as the palace's new alchemist. Something about the man made me feel unsettled but I thought I was being paranoid, kind of hard not to be in my position. I just wish I went on that hunch when I did." Gazanfer gave a wry smile. "He went to Spain to get some ingredient for a "potion" he is making. He won't be back for 3 days."

'…Well that's convenient.' There was no way it would be that easy to find and kill an Ultimate-class vampire, we all knew that. We just had no idea it might take going through an empire and its rulers to get to him. Froid was doing something big and whatever it was had to be in the palace and he was currently away.

"You said that Safiye spends long periods of time in her room alone, right?" I asked him again for confirmation. Gazanfer nodded.

"Then I have an idea." Everyone turned to me when I said that. "Melissa, when Gazanfer goes back to the palace tonight you hide in his shadow and he'll bring you to the inner palace." Melissa nodded. There were protection barriers all over the inner sanctum and she couldn't get in before but now she could with Gazanfer's access.

"Do you want me to see what she does in her room?"

"Yeah and if you find anything interesting immediately withdraw." The meeting ended there.

Gazanfer watched as Melissa sank into his shadow (I wish I had a camera to take picture of his face) and walked back to the palace. We watched him leave and I couldn't help having second thoughts.

"She'll be alright." My face must have said that as Maven put a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"I'm not worried." I lied. "Melissa's tough, she can handle anything inside that palace."

Maven just stared at me. "…You're a pretty bad liar you know that?" I snorted at that.

"And you're a rambler."

"Jerk."

"Know it all."

"Weirdo."

"Hey!" I turned to defend myself before pausing and shrugging. "Okay you got me there, but I'm funny so it works." I turned to leave but Maven put her hand on my chest and locked eyes with me.

"I put a marker on her before she left. If she's in danger that she can't get out of, I'll teleport us over. It will be noticeable but I'll do it." I could feel my body relax and so did Maven if the cheeky smile she gave me was any indicator.

"Thank you." I thanked Maven then proceeded to the hideout with everyone else.

Maven stared at Pierce leave before looking down at her hand. She rubbed her fingers together.

'I couldn't tell with his clothes on but…he's surprisingly built.' Blushing a little at her thought, Maven quickly followed after the group.

* * *

**2 Hours Later**

Everyone waited in the living room, doing their own things to occupy themselves till Melissa got back from her recon. Adrian and Samantha were playing chess. Vargas was sharpening his Bastard sword. Aindrea was being an ass. Maven was reading a magic book while I did pushups. Typical day in the monster hunting life.

'There's Melissa.' I saw her aura come up to the door and got up from the floor as she came in.

"Welcome back."

"I'm back." Melissa looked tired as gave me a hug than sat down on the couch with a sigh. Adrian brought her a cup of water and gave her a second before she began.

"There's a door in Safiye's room. It was under an illusion so I couldn't see it at first but when she came out and left her room, I started touching where I last saw it and found a latch. When the door opened I saw a long tunnel leading underground and at the end is another door but there is a lot of protection spells on it."

"Can you get through them?" Melissa nodded at Adrian's question.

"Yes, I can with my Youjustu but I can't completely hide what I need to do. Some of the protection spells will fight back."

"We can work with that, good job." Adrian looked up at me and did a double take. I was currently drawing on a chalkboard that magically appeared. "W-when did you get that in here?" Adrian heard Maven sigh.

"I should have never given him that space ring…" They all watched as I started writing a title at the top of the board. I turned around to face them.

"Aright ladies and gentlemen, time for operation Royal Bedlam!" No one said anything till Aindrea spoke up.

"Why do we have to do anything? We should just wait till Froid gets back and take him out then."

"And if his plan becomes complete the moment he gets back than what? Do you know where he will teleport back to? Even if Gazanfer said he'll back in 3 days who knows for sure. Maybe he'll chose to come back early and then what will we do?" Aindrea had no answers to my questions so I continued. "First, let me say my great plan and then we could go back to what we should do." Pointing at the board, I wrote Team 1 down.

"There are 3 teams on my plan to kill a vampire lord. Team 1 has Adrian and Vargas going to the prison where the wielder of the Holy Sword **Dyrnwyn **is being kept and freeing him. You guys convince him to help us kill Froid since you know he's pretty much been slandered and sentenced to death because of the vampire." Adrian and Vargas looked at each other and shrugged.

"Team 2 has Melissa and Samantha sneaking into Safiye's secret passage and finding out what is so important that Froid put so many protection spells over it." Melissa and Samantha gave quick nods.

"Hold on." Aindrea made himself known again.

"What?"

"They put in jail a Holy Sword user, there's no way he won't be guarded by magic or other supernatural beings and that won't be easy to get through. Not to mention the cat just told us she can't get through the door without being noticed."

"I'm a leopard!"

"I was going to explain that if you'd let me finish." I sighed and patted Melissa's head to calm her down. It did. "Team 3 has me, Maven, and you making a lot of noise." Aindrea was confused by the description.

"We're the distraction, dipshit." He understood that. "We start making a commotion and draw out the Head Guard and the wielder of **Fragment of Kukulkan**. While we distract (or get our ass' kicked), team 1 and 2 do what they need to do and when they're done we scatter. Any questions?" Adrian gave a hesitant raise of his hand.

"Yes Adrian?"

"Won't us doing all this make it clear what we're here to do? What if Froid chooses to run when he sees all we've done?"

"After what Melissa and I did in that tavern 2 days ago, it's safe to assume they know we're not friendly. Our position will only get worse if we sit still and wait around for Froid to finish whatever he's planning." Adrian gained a thoughtful expression at my answer. I was a bit nervous not going to lie. Adrian was the leader that was already established as he was the Emissary, so he could just not go ahead with my plan and do something else.

"Let's do it." Thankfully, he agreed with my plan. "What time do we start?" I gained a wide smile on my face.

"Now."

* * *

**20 Minutes Later, Outside the Royal Palace**

"…This is demeaning." Aindrea whined under the mask he had on.

"You think everything is demeaning." I adjusted the leather mask on my face as we stood 100 meters from the palace walls. "It's one thing to be loud. It's another tell them who we are by showing our faces when we don't have to." Maven waved her hand and started putting runes on our all masks to stop x-ray spells because those actually exist.

'Here's hoping Issei never learns that.' He probably doesn't need to since he can talk to breasts but still. "Everyone ready?"

"Roger."

"We're ready!"

After getting Adrian's and Melissa's response through a communication ring, I turned to the palace.

"Hey Maven, you see that building over there?" I activated _Chi Vision_ and pointed to a building that had no one inside.

"Yeah?"

"Make it very big and very loud." I watched as Maven's face gained a cheshire smile. She flew up over the walls and towards the building. I could see a ripple where Maven entered through and that must have been a detection barrier since lights started appearing all over the palace a second later. A second was all Maven needed.

"**Fl****ammis acribus malestrom****!"** Maven pointed her staff at the building and all I saw the next second was a large, blinding yellow.

* * *

**Inside the Royal Palace**

"You're Majesty." Pasha lowered his head as he kneeled in front of the true ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

"Yes Pasha?" Safiye Sultan is what one would consider a tenacious woman. Sold as a slave at 13 to become Murad III's concubine. Seeing multiple Sultans live and die while she survived till this day. Siring 3 children with her husband, with the first son finally becoming Sultan and granting her the status of valide Sultan. Safiye did not have an easy life and yet she still became one of the most powerful valides in the history of the Ottoman Empire.

'That's probably why she's acting out like she is.' Pasha peeked at the woman who until a couple weeks ago was normal, now seemed to be constantly in a strange mood. Pasha respected his majesty very much and was raised with the sole intention of protecting the throne no matter the situation. But he needed to ask…

"Is Liam still to be executed?"

"You know the answer to that." Pasha gritted his teeth at her majesty's tone and persisted.

"Please you're Majesty. I know Liam, he wouldn't do the things he was accus-"

"Are you questioning my credibility?" Safiyes cold tone sent a chill down Pasha's spine.

"No! Of course not, you're Majesty! I just-" Pasha stopped as he felt the palace's magic barrier ripple. Pasha and Safiye turned in the direction of where the intruder entered.

"Who dare-" Pasha didn't get to finish as a large boom was heard and the entire palace violently shaked, nearly sending Pasha to the ground. A servant entered the room in a hurry. "You're majesty there's been a-"

"I can see from here." Safiye waved her hand at the servant as she looked out the window. The now demolished bathhouse had a figure levitating over the fiery remains. Another ripple was felt as 2 more figures jumped over the wall and landed on the front lawn making a crater. The palace soldiers tried to intercept and capture the intruders. Tried being the key word.

"Go." Pasha hesitated at Safiye's order before bowing and ran out the room, making for the exit outside. When he reached the front door he was met with Chancellor Malcolm. He was middle aged man with short brown hair and a full beard. Pasha has never seen him worried as a calm smile was always present on his face, even now. Malcolm watched the levitating figure send blasts of fire and lightning all over the palace grounds. Oddly enough the figure was just destroying buildings as no one was killed. Injured? Sure. Killed? Not one yet.

"Why, hello Pasha. Lively night we're having huh?" Malcolm greeted Pasha with an oddly cheerful even though they were being attacked.

"…I can't tell if you're being serious or not." Pasha sighed as he watched the other 2 intruders take on the army of palace guards and soldiers. 'They aren't killing anyone either. Just incapacitating them.' Pasha frowned as he saw the 2 intruders work. He thought something wasn't right before he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Easy there. You're going to hurt yourself with all the thinking you're doing." Malcolm made a joke before his face got serious. "I can tell too. Something's not right here but that can wait." Visible wind picked up and the Chancellor was slowly lifted into the air "They're intruders who are attacking the palace, we can ask for their intentions after capturing them." Malcolm left with that as he flew towards the levitating figure, sending a cyclone of wind which they blocked with a large protection spell.

Pasha watched Malcolm fight with the intruder before fainting speaking.

"Come to me." Dozens of swords that were placed on the palace walls as decorations floated off their hangers and hovered around Pasha. Suits of armors used as statues also started moving like they were alive and followed him as Pasha walked towards the other 2 intruders.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

'…is it wrong that I'm enjoying this a little?' That thought passed my mind as I dodged another sword swing from a palace guard and grabbed him by the back of his armor. Using as little _Chi_ as possible, I tossed him towards another group of guards and like dominoes they all fell down. Dozens of groaning soldiers were laying around me and more came at me but all it took was one hit or push and they weren't getting up for a while. 'At least I'm not enjoying this as much as Aindrea is.' Looking over at the Demigod, I could tell by the glint in his eyes that he was really having fun. Another soldier came at me and swung down at my head with a heavy looking saber. To my _Chi_ enhanced senses, he was as slow as a snail and a really cocky idea entered my mind as I poured a decent amount of _Chi_ into my right hand. I caught the blade between my thumb and pointer finger, stopping it dead in its tracks.

'Always wanted to do that.' The look on the soldier's face made it all worth it as I punched him in the stomach, making him pass out. I looked around and noticed that a barrier was put around the entire palace walls. 'They must have put it up to avoid the rest of the city seeing th-'

I quickly jumped to the left as a dozen blades pierced the ground where I was standing. A large boom was heard as Aindrea skidded over to me. 8 heavy animated armors stood around us as many swords floated in the air. A tall man with a bob cut and tanned skin stood behind them.

"Head Guard, Mehmed Pasha?" I made a guess and got a small nod from the man.

"Why are you attacking the Sultan's palace?" Pasha interrogated us as his animated armors closed in.

"Would you believe us if I said that doing this would save you're empire?" I tried to see if that would work.

"…"

"...Is that a no?" Then the armors charged at us.

* * *

**Inside Safiye's Secret Room**

Melissa watched as Safiye left her room and, along with Samantha, stepped out the shadow realm. Samantha rubbed her arms and had a curious look on her face.

"That was strange. It felt cold yet peaceful. Is that how it will feel when I die? If so then it wouldn't be as scary as I thought. Thank you for the experience." Samantha gave Melissa a grateful smile but that just freaked her out more.

'…I'm not taking Samantha into the shadow realm again.' Melissa liked Samantha; she was nice and patient but… 'I really don't like her jokes.' Melissa quickly shook her head as she pulled the latch through the illusion and the secret compartment opened. Walking down they were met with a door that had many blood runes over it.

"You were right. Whatever Froid has down here he went through a lot of trouble to put defenses over it." Samantha's face became serious as she saw all the blood runes over the door.

"Yeah and there is an alarm spell over it that will tell Froid if someone is trying to open the door but I could get through without tripping it."

"So what do need me to do?" Samantha didn't know why she was here if Melissa had this.

Melissa wrote in the air and a symbol shot towards the door. The door responded by shooting out 3 blood red wolfs that snarled at the 2 girls. That was one rune out of a couple dozen.

"Oh…" That was all Samantha said.

"Yeah, I can get through without tripping the alarm but not while fighting those things." Melissa started drawing many symbols in the air and nodded towards Samantha. "Cover me."

**"Praesidio muros****." **Samantha waved her hand and a yellow barrier appeared in front of them. It stopped the blood wolves' dead in their tracks and even with they tried to run into it, the barrier didn't budge.

Smiling, Melissa started focusing on the door and was quite impressed with Pierce's decision to have Samantha come with her. 'I'm surprised he remembered that Samantha was also an expert at protection spells.' They told him a couple weeks ago and Samantha was even giving her tips on what parts of the door had weaker defense spells (she didn't have experience with blood runes but she could still recognize basic points). Melissa had no idea Pierce forgot and just got lucky.

* * *

**Palace Prison**

Adrian and Vargas followed Gazanfer as the commotion outside was becoming louder. Thanks to the Head Eunuch they were able to get in without being seen and made for Liam's cell.

"They sure are having fun out there." Vargas felt another boom and the palace shook once more.

"Here's hoping they don't go overboard and bring this place down." Gazanfer sweated at Adrian's nonchalant tone.

"T-they won't a-actually do that, right?" Their shrugs did not bring any peace of mind. 'To save the empire. To save the empire. To save the…' Gazanfer said that like a mantra in his head as they reached Liam's cell. Liam was cut off from the other prisoners and given a high end cell with a nice bed and lots of books. Looking up from his book, Liam spotted the trio and raised a brow.

"Gazanfer? What are you doing down here? Who are they?" Adrian and Vargas made puzzled expressions at the Holy Sword user's questions.

"Are you not going to ask what's happening upstairs?" Vargas couldn't help it and asked.

Liam shrugged saying since he's in prison and stripped of his position than it's not his problem.

'What a lax man!' Both Adrian and Vargas thought this at Liam's answer. Gazanfer was not as shocked as he took a step forward and started explaining why they were here and what Froid is. At the end of the explanation, Liam was wide eyed.

"Wow…that sucks." Liam's lackluster respond made Adrian's brow twitch and Vargas' lips curve. 'Why does this guy seem so familiar?' They both thought this but couldn't place him.

"That's why we hope you can join us to kill Froid." Adrian offered Liam revenge.

"Sure." Liam agreed.

"…Really?" Vargas thought that was too easy.

"I mean, this is still my home and I can't just let some leech ruin it." Liam stood up and walked towards them. "But you're going to have to get my sword."

"Where is it?" Liam just pointed behind them.

Turning around, they saw an intricate, sharp sword with a white hilt resting on the other side of the hall.

"…They left a Holy Sword 100 feet away from a Holy Sword user?" Vargas thought that was very stupid before he saw Liam shake his head.

"Take a step forward." Looking at each other, Adrian and Vargas took a step towards the Holy Sword and magic spells appeared all over the hall. Magic puppets with armors and swords popped up everywhere and blocked their path. There were at least 50.

"…Of course." Vargas said this as he sent 2 magic puppets flying back with his Bastard sword. Adrian chopped the head of another but it kept fighting till he chopped it into pieces. The 2 Vargas sent flying got up and joined the rest.

"I hate it when Aindrea is right." Vargas said this.

"I know." Adrian agreed

Then they were swarmed by 49 murder puppets.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

'This is karma for me being a dick, I just know it…' I got up from the debris as this was the 3rd wall I was thrown through. 'Isn't he supposed to be protecting this place?' I couldn't think on it any longer as another sword tried to impale me and I quickly rolled to the side. Armors rushed at me as I clashed swords with them and they were good too. Parrying multiple swords, I sliced through the armors and quickly cut them to pieces. I felt happy at destroying the armors before Pasha spoke up.

"Mend." The cut pieces of the armor floated up and put themselves back together. I watched all this happen and when it was done the armors pointed their swords at me again. It took 3 seconds.

"Oh that's bullshit." I made my feelings on this whole thing real clear but Pasha didn't care as he commanded the armors to rush at me again. Even with _Touki_, I was getting my ass handed to me and Aindrea was personally fighting against Pasha but wasn't doing all that well. I was cut on the shoulder and my right leg had a deep gash.

"You guys almost done?!" I screamed into my communication ring when I saw Pasha was far away.

"We're going to need a minute!"

"We're almost through!"

Hearing Adrian's and Melissa's respond, I blocked another sword but the force pushed me the ground. I gritted my teeth as I desperately tried to stop the blade from piercing my throat.

"Oh screw you!" I punched the armor with a _Seismic Fist_ and was pleasantly shocked when the armor didn't get back up after exploding from the inside. Pasha looked over to me after sending Aindrea flying and was not happy.

"Mend." The armor didn't fix itself and 2 other armors rushed at me.

"Oh hell yeah!" I exploded one armor with my _Seismic Fist_ and crushed the other with my _Chi_ coated hands. Those armors couldn't fix themselves either.

'So he can fix them if they are cut into clean pieces but not if their crushed or exploded from the inside huh.' Abusing that piece of information, I ripped through every armor that came at me in less than a minute and faced off against Pasha with Aindrea. Granted, we were still beaten black and blue by the Head Guard but that was because we weren't actively trying to kill him.

'I'm really having second thoughts on that…' Pasha hit me in the face and nearly broke my nose. Aindrea swung his spear at Pasha's stomach and he blocked that before kicking Aindrea away. I took out a handful of pellets and shot them towards the Head Guard. He had his swords float in front of him likes shields. 'Why doesn't he use an actual shield?' The swords in turn jetted after us and even when I kept sidestepping the attacks it tracked me like a homing rocket. I caught the flying blade by the handle and I hit it with a _Seismic Fist_ before tossing it back to Pasha. He was confused by my actions before he said faintly.

"Stop." The thrown sword stopped, the tip inches away from piercing his face.

'Should have dodged…' The sword exploded into shrapnel and it all hit Pasha right in his face. He screamed as some of the metal shrapnel got in his eye and was temporarily blinded. I didn't miss my shot. I decked him in the jaw and a shock wave was created from the sheer force as Pasha flew across the lawn. 'I definitely felt a crack…' I watched as Pasha slowly got up. His armor was dented, his jaw was unhinged, and his face had cuts all over it. Now I was feeling a little guilty.

'Maybe I should have-' I watched as Pasha reset his jaw and look at me with a face that said, "Your fucking dead."

**"At Arms!" **Pasha screamed this as every weapon in the palace flew out and surrounded me and Aindrea. Hundreds of sabers, spears, and maces floated in the air as they orbited us. I only had one response.

"…Seriously man, where were you when Froid sneaked in?" Pasha was too injured and pissed off to listen as he waved his hand and the weapons closed in.

"**Arma Squalent!" **Maven's voice rang out as a purple miasma appeared and engulfed all the flying weapons. They started rotting super fast and Pasha even backed up far away to avoid the spell. She floated down between me and Aindrea.

"You don't look so hot." Maven had bloody cuts all over her robes and her hat was shredded.

"Humph speak for yourself, I'm gorgeous." Maven said that with a narcissist tone and I laughed.

"We're done. We have Liam!" Adrian chose this time to send us a message.

"Get back to the hideout then." Adrian agreed and made his exit.

"Melissa?" I tried to contact the shadow Yokai but I got no response. "Melissa is everything alright?" A short silence reigned before I heard Samantha's voice.

"We're done too…we'll meet you all back at the hideout." I frowned at Samantha's tone. It felt…sick.

"What do you think they found?" Maven said as she kept her focus on Pasha outside the miasma.

"Don't know, but I get the feeling we're not going to like it." A fierce wind picked up as a middle aged man with a full beard floated above in the air. He had burns and pieces of scorched clothes all over him. The miasma was blown away. It didn't matter though as Maven already activated the teleportation array and we were long gone.

* * *

**Back at the Hideout**

Everyone rested and recuperated back at the house. Samantha worked on everyone as we all some injury or another. I saw Melissa was sitting on the couch and her head was down. I walked over and sat down next to her. She didn't notice.

"Melissa?" She jumped up a little and turned towards me before her body relaxed. "Is everything okay?" She didn't give me a response, instead she just leaned in for a hug and I held her in my arms. I frowned when she started shaking. "What happened down there?" Samantha just took a vial of blood from her robes (it was covered with a bunch of sealing spells) and placed it on the table.

"And what is this?" Vargas leaned in to get a closer look.

"The blood of a rat that contains the bacterium Yersinia pestis; also known as the Black Death." The room was silent as everyone (sans Melissa) looked at Samantha. Vargas was visibly sweating from being in such close proximity with the vial.

"Samantha…" I tried as gently as I can to ask my question. "What the living fuck?" I think I did a good job. She took out another vial of blood (also covered with seals) and placed it with the first one. It was a darker red.

"And what the hell is that?" Vargas was against the wall this time.

"The same vial containing Yersinia pestis..." Samantha paused and took a deep breath. "…bonded with Vampirism." The silence this time was even more deafening.

"Are you telling me…" I couldn't believe it. "…that Froid combined the vampire disease with the cause of one of the worst plagues ever recorded in human history?"

"Yes."

"…Why couldn't it have just been Dracula?" Never thought I'd say that. Life's funny huh?

* * *

and done. Empire in danger? Check. Crazy vampire scientist? Check. Pierce questioning his life choices? Checked a long time ago. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	11. Chapter 10

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**ThePhenx**: You my sir are a genius. I haven't even thought of that! Still I already picked out a name for Pierce's mercenary name but I will have someone named the Mandalorian. You will get a Mandalorian I assure you!

**Amatsumi**: Yep, that's pretty much the idea. Maybe not as far as the 6th general but Pierce will get beat up and will need to learn new tricks to pick up the slack. I never liked how Protagonist always seemed to get incredible strength all to, "protect my precious people!" Yeah no none of that for Pierce. He'll go through thick and thin for his friends like any regular person who cares about people does but he won't gain a power boost in the middle of the fight and save the day. He'll eventually become really strong but it will be gradual and he will earn it. So moral of the story, he's going to get his ass kicked a lot.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Holy Water, Holy Weapons, and a Touch of Garlic**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD. I own the OC's though. I wonder if I die I'll become Pierce? Is that the condition to reincarnation? Being a writer? Man I envy One Punch Man then.

* * *

**Morning After, Sultan's Palace**

Pasha kneeled in front the valide Sultan once more and was drenched in sweat. After being treated by the royal healer, he and Malcolm made their way to the palace prison at the servant's request. More specifically, Liam's cell. It was completely wrecked with every magic puppet destroyed and the Holy Sword **Dyrnwyn **gone. Liam was nowhere to be seen.

"She's not going to be happy about that." Pasha couldn't help but agree with Malcolm last night and now was taking the full brunt of her majesty's wraith. Pasha always thought leaving the Holy Sword next to Liam's cell was a stupid idea but it was never problem until now.

"So the attack was a distraction?" Safiye's voice was ice cold.

"Y-yes you're Majesty. While we fought the 3 intruders in the front lawn, another group made for Liam's cell and freed him." Pasha would never admit it but he was glad his friend escaped. Though from the look Safiye was giving him, she had an idea.

"…Leave me." Pasha bowed low once more and left the valide's room. Safiye looked out the window for another minute before turning towards an empty wall. She took a step forward and grabbed empty air, pulling down like she was grasping a latch. The wall became hazy until an entrance appeared and she walked downstairs. Safiye kept walking down until she reached a door with a couple blood runes remaining. Far less then what it had before the attack.

'My Lord is not going to be happy about that.' Frowning at what she was seeing, Safiye opened the door and walked through the portal that appeared. She came to a room that would make Devils that lived through the Great War stop. Dozens of bodies littered the large room and they had so many mutations that you wouldn't believe they were once humans. Some were fused together; others looked like children with boils and extra limbs. Others just seemed like mashed meat as they laid there. Whoever came through had a basic sense of pity as they slit all their throats. Safiye only walked by the bodies and came to a storage area that looked far ahead of its time. Her face gained a very hard look of fury.

"Infidels…" Safiye never realized how hypocritical her respond was when she had a hand in the Hell she was currently looking at. Sadly, the mother of the Sultan who before was as sane as the next person was now completely under the control of Froid. She only thought of her Lord's goals as the word of Allah and thought nothing of his laboratory of nightmares. The only reason she didn't turn Malcolm and Pasha into vampires as well was because they had the will to reject the vampire blood and would see what she was trying to do a mile away. But it didn't matter now because the multiple vials that her Lord worked hard on to complete were gone. Only broken glass and a message written in scorched marks remained.

"We have the last vials. You'll know where to receive them." Safiye looked at the message with burning rage before smashing her hand on the table and destroying it.

* * *

**Back at the Hideout**

I watched as Melissa finally closed her eyes and went to sleep. I carried her to the room and laid her on the bed. She looked exhausted.

"She did the right thing." I looked at Adrian who was standing by the door.

"…I know." I stroked Melissa's hair. "Doesn't mean it had to be easy. There were kids down there for fuck sake!" I felt anger build up inside at Froid.

"We'll kill him and make sure he can't come back." Adrian left to the living room after that and I followed. Vargas and Liam were sword training in the corner and they were quite into it as loud clangs were heard from the blades hitting each other.

"Um…shouldn't they use training swords?" I had to state the obvious.

"They should but they also said that true improvement comes from being in real danger." Adrian laughed at the look on my face.

"Basically, they're idiots." Maven spoke up from the couch she was on. "How's Melissa?"

"Physically tired mainly, mentally a little shaken. Any regular person would be after seeing what she did. Even Samantha was freaked out." Samantha raised her head from her book at that.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Everyone (even Vargas who was training) deadpanned at her question.

"Anyway…

"Hey!"

…what are we going to do with these?" I stopped in front of the 2 vials that were chained up and put so many sealing spells on them that they might as well be in Cocytus. 'Why do I remember the deepest prison in Hell of all things?' Questioning how my brain works, Maven answered me.

"There are tracking seals on the vials that Froid personally put on them. I isolated them but all it takes is me releasing the seal and he'll know where they are." I knew what that meant.

"Bait." Maven nodded her head.

"What's so dangerous about this thing besides it being the Black Death?"

"Do you remember the tavern of vampires that you and Melissa took out?" I snorted at Adrian's question.

"Fondly."

"Well, they were all the byproduct of the vampire strain inside that vial." I quirked a brow at the explanation.

"Okay…doesn't explain why this vial is so dangerous. I mean sure, they were fast and blood thirsty but they aren't exactly what I'd call a priority danger."

"Before we get into the heavy stuff, let me give you some context on vampires." Maven waved her hand as a brown book appeared and opened on the table. "Vampires are ancient, supernatural creatures of the night. Their origins can be traced all the way back to the ancient Mesopotamians. Every human or non human that becomes a vampire gains many abilities and also many burdens." I knew all this but I waited till she was finished. "From the manipulation of shadows, to blood, even natural creatures of the night like bats or pythons. But they also can't stand sunlight, the holy aspect, and garlic."

"Wait, garlic being harmful to them is actually a thing?" I always thought that was a bad joke from some cheesy vampire movie.

"To some houses of vampire, garlic is just as lethal as sunlight but those houses are pretty low on the totem pole." Maven pointed her finger to a section of the book. "Here's the thing, not every being that's injected with vampire blood becomes one. Besides the fact that most noble vampires can't stand the fact of turning "lesser beings" into their kind, a lot of times the turn doesn't work."

'That…makes a lot of sense.' It would balance out the sheer potential vampirism has. Sure, the drawbacks and weakness could be a real drag but overall being a vampire gives a lot of benefits. Longevity, supernatural strength, speed, durability, and a shit ton of other abilities. In the long run, not being able to go into the sun and a weakness to holy objects just don't seem like very big drawbacks (I mean the entire Devil race deals with them on a daily bases). "So how high are the chances of you successfully turning?"

"20%." I was shocked at the low number.

"R-really? But there were over 40 of them in that tavern." That was scary low, if they were all vampires than over 200 people had to be bitten in order to reach that number.

"Except, when it comes to that strain Froid created." Maven pointed in the direction of the vials. "Anyone infected with that strain has a 70% of turning into a pseudo-vampire."

"Pseudo?"

"No control over shadows or animals. A bit of control over blood. No weakness to sunlight but still weak to holy objects. Froid has complete control of them and to some extent Safiye since she's his thrall. They become rabid beasts when seeing blood or any other stimulus really."

"Wow…that suc-"

"Ah!" Adrian yelled and pointed at me when I said that. Vargas looked over at me and then looked at Liam then back to me again. I heard him murmur, "So that's who he reminded me of…" Liam just looked confused.

Maven and I looked at both of them before getting back on topic.

"Anyway, that's the reason that second vial is so dangerous. With the contagious aspect of the Black Plague and the high turn rate of his new vampire strain, well everyone in Constantinople will turn into Froid's personal rabid dogs within the week." That honestly freaked the hell out of me as I gave a cautious look over to the vials in the corner. My face made Maven laugh as she lightly tapped me on the chest.

"Relax, there's a reason Froid hasn't used it yet." Maven's beautiful face smiled as she walked over to the vials. A magic circle appeared on her hand as a drop of blood levitated out of the vial of vampiric Black Plague. Just as I was about to activate _Touki_ and book it for the door something strange happened, the drop of blood combusted and collapsed on itself as it became air. Maven smirked in my direction and I realized I did activate _Touki_.

"…I'm not apologizing." I deactivated it and coughed in my hand.

"Sure tough guy." Maven walked back to the couch. "The combination is stable but only if the original sample is directly injected into the subject's body. If the infected gives blood to others then it will be even lower chance of turning than a normal vampire bite." I was relieved at the news.

"So no Walking Dead on steroids scenario happening anytime soon?" They looked confused at my reference but nodded nonetheless.

"Yes, that's about right…I'm sorry but what's the Walking Dead?"

"That's not important." I waved away her question. "So is that why Froid went away? To find a magical ingredient that will perfect the virus?"

"We believe so." Samantha put down her book. "There was dozens of vials down there but only that one had more protection than the door Melissa broke through. We could only break the containment and teleportation spell on it before taking the vial here."

"So that's Froid's only nightmare in a bottle?" Adrian shrugged

"Possibly. All we know is that no one will put that much effort into protecting something if they had more." I couldn't disagree.

"Okay, I get why we are keeping the vampiric Black Plague since if we destroy it he'll know but why is the original Black plague still here?"

"They have the same tracking spells on them. We plan lure him in with the original Black Plague and kill him when he comes after it. When he's dead, we'll destroy both vials. No point in risking him getting back the real supernatural virus."

"Alright than, so where are we killing the vampire?" Liam stepped forward at my question.

"I have an idea."

* * *

**3 Hours Later, Hagia Sophia**

A large dome building stood in the center square of Constantinople. The Byzantine created temple was made of marble and had hundreds of mosaics littering the inside. For a time the building was destroyed with the constant wars brought to the city but Mehmed the Conqueror had it rebuilt to its former glory in his reign. He proclaimed the structure to slowly change into a mosque and the Sultan Selim II had the base reconstructed to withstand even earthquakes by the famous ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan.

'That's going to be needed if we fight Froid here.' The interior was beautiful with many statues and decorated pillars. Citizens were inside, praying and giving offers to their respective gods and the overall "faith" aura in the temple was very high. I looked over at Melissa and elbowed her a little. She looked at me with her tired eyes.

"Are you alright?" She gave me a small smile.

"I'm fine. It's just going to be a bit difficult to forget what happened." I frowned at her nonchalance.

"You don't need to forget what happened. Just come to terms with it." I lightly squeezed her arm. "You can sit this out if-"

"No." Melissa's cold answer made me stop. "I need to be a part of this. If Froid dies, then I'm going to a one of the reasons it happened." The way she said that and the look of determination in her eyes probably would have made a lesser man cower. I'm not a lesser man though.

'That or probably because I have a screw loose somewhere.' Either way, I smiled and nodded at her decision before giving her hand a small squeeze. She squeezed back.

"You know, I think they do marriage ceremonies here if you guys are really feeling it." Vargas quipped as he pointed towards a couple that were being blessed by a priest. I only coughed while Melissa snorted and hugged my arm between her bountiful breasts.

"Why that sounds like a great idea! What do you say, darling?" She said that in a mock loving tone and I deadpanned.

"Let's go on a date first at least." Melissa's eyes widened before she smirked.

"Is that an offer?"

"Chivalries not dead you just have to ask for it." I paused before adding. "Besides, we're going to fight a homicidal alchemist vampire and that sounds like a great first date to me!" Both of them chuckled at my sarcastic voice before we followed Maven who called us over. Melissa never let go of my arm and I would have enjoyed the soft feeling a lot more if it wasn't for the looks the priest were giving me as we walked by.

"What's their problem?" I had to ask after a particularly hard glare from one priest.

"It's me." Melissa answered

"What do you mean it's you?"

"She means that many priests in here have a connection to the supernatural, be it through their Gods or other channels." Maven continued for Melissa, she quirked a brow towards our contact. "They know of the war Zeth is fighting against Olympus and if the God's sources are to be trusted, many Yokai are in his monster army." I frowned when I got the idea and flared my _Chi_ a little when a priest started walking towards us. He turned and walked away real fast.

'Nazi.' I thought this when I felt Melissa squeeze my arm a little harder. Turning my head, Melissa gave me grateful smile and laid her head against my shoulder. "Thanks." She was blushing a little. Vargas gave us a cheeky smile and Maven just gagged. I gave them a very special sign with my finger. We eventually reached where Adrian, Samantha, and Aindrea were waiting. Liam was talking to some catholic priest and motioned towards us when we walked in. They stepped forward and Liam introduced the man as his contact in the church.

"Why hello, my name is Bishop Gentry Unter and it's a pleasure to meet you all." Gentry bowed and we quickly bowed back. "Liam told me of the scourge you all plan to face and I'll help anyway I can."

"Really?" It was a bit suspicious for a random acquaintance of Liam's to help us (even if he is a holy man).

"But of course!" Gentry seemed offended by my suspicion. "For the evil you face threatens the safety of many devout Christians that inhabit the city. Even those that do not embrace God's love still deserve protecting."

'Not much love to receive when he's not there.' It took most of my will power not to say that out loud. Personally, I have nothing against the Biblical God or the Angel faction but knowing that pretty important piece of information while a priest talks about the absent man above? 'I really hope I'm not smiling as hard as I think I 'am. It's more of the fact that I can say God is dead and be correct even when he calls me a heretic.' Yep, I 'am so going to Hell. At least I know they have video games down there.

"We'll take any help you can offer." Adrian stepped up and thanked the priest for his services. Gentry waved away Adrian's thanks and said that him helping us was the work of God. 'Oh you're killing me over here…' Melissa dragged me along as we all followed Gentry downstairs into a deep cellar. The walls looked ancient and had many symbols like Angels, deer's, and doves drawn into the rock. We kept going down till we reached a large area, about the size of a football field, and Gentry waved his hands. A large yellow magic circle appeared over us and I could see Holy energy move through the walls like veins. A very sacred looking temple rose from the ground and stood tall in the empty space.

"Holy sh- ouch!" I touched my head for a second as I felt a pain there.

"No profanity shall be used in the presence of a Holy Temple." Gentry admonished my language.

"Seriously?" I was not amused. "I get the praying to hurt Devils but there a setting to punish people that curse?" Gentry nodded.

'Thanks for sealing Trihexa man but spending your time on stuff like this? I don't want to speak ill of the dead but…' I've really got to stop going there. 'When it stops being funny.' I shook my head and got serious.

"I hate to be that guy but Froid isn't stupid. No amount of endless, controllable pseudo-vampires will make him walk into a temple specifically designed to be a place of holiness. You know the thing that can make him very weak and killable." I got a round of nods before Adrian turned to Gentry.

"He's right. Froid won't come in here even for his virus. He knows he'll be killed if he fights in here."

"Who said you're bringing him here?" We all looked at Gentry with confusion. "Follow me." Gentry brought us inside the temple and we arrived inside a chamber with a large fountain in the middle of it. The water coming out was shining with bits of lights inside and gave out a pure aura.

"Holy water." Gentry nodded at my guess and stood next to the fountain. "Give me your weapons." We looked at each other before I took out my sword from the space ring and gave it to Gentry. He dipped my sword in the holy water and started writing different markings on it. My sword shined before dimming and Gentry handed it back to me. It felt like I was holding a cross, it was emitting holy energy and seemed sacred in my hands except it didn't look any different.

"So is it a Holy Sword now?" Gentry shook his head. "Yeah, figured that'd be too easy."

"It does not qualify as a Holy Sword but it will deal great damage to beings of darkness now."

"Really?" I lightly poked Aindrea with the tip of my sword and waited before looking at the priest. "Nothing's happening."

"Oh screw you!" He didn't find that funny. Everyone just looked at us with exhaustion and handed over their weapons. Melissa's daggers, Vargas' Bastard sword, Adrian's God sword, and Aindrea's spear were all blessed with the holy water.

"Well now that we got the holy aspect along with the Sunlight attribute that Adrian gave us we should be set."

"Not quite." Gentry walked over to a wall and pulled a latch. The wall opened up and hanging on the other side were crosses, flasks with holy water, and…

I blinked. I blinked again. "Is…?" I raised a finger to the wall. "Is that a crossbow?"

"Hmm?" Gentry looked at where I was pointing and gave a faint "ah" before picking it up. "Why yes, this is a prototype repeater crossbow from the ma-" He stopped as he looked at my black hat and coat I didn't have on a second ago. "Umm, when did you cha-"

"Hand it over." I put my hand out and Gentry just stared at it before shrugging. Placing the weapon in my hand, I started touching all the mechanisms on it. "It's still a prototype so the handling might be a bit rough. Please be careful." I pressed the release lever and the crossbow opened to full attention. The arrow cartridge spinned and the first arrow was nocked.

"It's beautiful…" I lovingly stroked the revolving crossbow and when I looked up, everyone was giving me with weird looks. I shrugged.

"You'll all understand some day. Probably." They stared at me before looking through what Gentry had to offer. I was perfectly fine with the crossbow, especially after Gentry gave me a bunch of arrows blessed with holy water. 'Now I feel bad for the internal jokes.' Well I would be, if I wasn't busy admiring how fitting the crossbow looked in the water's reflection.

"So where are we fighting Froid?"

"Upstairs in one of the abandoned halls since its neutral ground, Froid won't be too hesitant on entering there." Vargas answered while looking at a holy shield. "There are enough protection spells and natural human construction to make sure that no matter how destructive the fight gets, it won't reach the outside."

"But for now, we wait." Adrian placed a holy dagger in his breast pocket.

"Wait?" I was confused by that order. "Why don't we just go up there now and release the seal Maven put on the vial?"

"We'll wait because baiting him with the vial is plan B. Plan A is watching the Sultans Palace and seeing when Froid comes back. If we can take him out alone, than there's no need to use the vial as bait. But if we can't, then we'll come back here and go with plan B." Adrian's plan seemed pretty secure so I stopped asking. Thanking Gentry once again for all the help, we made our way outside and through the streets of Constantinople. When we were halfway to the hideout Adrian stopped us.

"Alright, Gazanfer said that Froid was to come back in 2 more days. Maven hasn't intercepted any magical messages from the palace to somewhere else, so the odds of Safiye warning Froid of what happened are low." We all nodded along. "So for the time being, there will be groups of 2 watching the palace from a safe distance. Froid definitely has a teleportation array in the palace so we can't sense him returning. But thankfully, we have Gazanfer on the inside that will message us by releasing his red tailed hawk." I interjected in that moment and pulled Melissa to me.

"I call Melissa." Everyone just rolled their eyes and gave cheeky smiles at Melissa's blush.

"Sorry, no can do Pierce." I had a betrayed look on my face.

"How can you separate true love so easily!? You heartless fiend!" I ignored Melissa's stepping on my foot and her face becoming even redder. 'Since when the hell are you coy?' Adrian just shook his head with a wry smile.

"Having 2 of our _Chi_ users watching the palace at the same time? That's just a waste of resources." He had me there. "Melissa will go with Samantha and you will be with Vargas." I looked at Vargas and shrugged.

"Sure I don't mind that team up."

"So what? I'm with you?" Maven's question made Adrian sweat and Maven connected the dots. "Oh come on! Why am I stuck with Aindrea?" He seemed insulted by that.

"You should be grateful for being partnered up with me." Did he actually just say that? Cleaning my ears with my pinky, I asked for confirmation. "I said she should be gratef-"

"Okay you did say that." Rubbing my forehead, I sacrificed myself for the sake of Maven's sanity. "Maven switch with me, you take Vargas I'll have holier than thou." Maven blinked at my offer.

"Um, there's really no need I'll be fin-" I patted her shoulder and walked to Aindrea.

"Its fine, I've had a lifetime to deal with guys like him." The 21st century is practically full of Aindrea's. "But I have to ask, who are you going to be with Adrian?" He pointed at Liam.

"…Wait, so you think having our 2 _Chi_ users together is a waste but having our 2 magical sword users together isn't?" Adrian just shrugged and gave a quick, "yep" before walking to the hideout.

"…Adrian abusing his authority?" I placed a hand over my heart. "I'm so proud!" They all shook their heads and continued walking. When we got to the hideout it was still early, so Aindrea and I went on the first shift to stake out the palace.

"Come on sour puss; let's go to a restaurant I know near the palace."

"Stop calling me whatever you like mongrel." He scowled and walked past me towards the palace. I was about to follow before Maven stopped me.

"Thanks for switching. I owe you one." That was all she said before walking into the hideout. She had a light blush on her face.

'…She's definitely misunderstanding something somewhere.' I was being honest when I said I was used to dealing with guys like Aindrea, hell some of my friends can be bigger douches than him sometimes. '…That doesn't make my taste in friends sound good does it?' Ridding the thought from my head, I followed after Aindrea.

We reached this large restaurant and got a table near the window that had a clear view of the palace. Not 30 minutes after did I start regretting switching with Maven.

'This is what I get for being a nice guy…' Sighing (for the third time), I continued listening to Aindrea talk about his life training in the spear, what places he's traveled to, even how many women he's been with. 'I still don't know how we got to talking about that. But if half of it is true, then you are definitely the grandson of Zeus.' All things considered it was like I guessed; Aindreas really isn't all that bad a guy. Superiority complex? Yep. Mean streak with a touch of battle crazy? Oh yeah. An evil person that's deserves to rot in Hell? No, I don't think he deserves that. Granted, the bar is pretty high with people like Kokabiel, Loki, and Froid running around ruining lives for their own personal interest, Aindrea is still not that bad. He's still an ass though.

"Hey Aindrea." He stopped talking and looked at me. "Why are you here anyway?" I've always wondered that since coming on the team. Adrian is here because he was picked to be an Emissary and wants to save Olympus. Samantha grew up in the same town as Adrian and came along so that she can be there to help when he gets hurt (her saintly aura when she told me that nearly blinded me). Melissa just wanted to explore the world and see what kind of things she can accomplish that isn't her clan's wishes. Vargas came along when he was traveling and thought killing a God is a glorious goal to inspire to. Maven went through all her school's magical knowledge and wants access into the Greek God's library of magic (she'd make a good Devil). Everyone on the team had a reason for coming but Aindrea was the only one that never said why he was here. He didn't answer me and actually got quiet at my question. 'Well that's interesting.' I probably should have taken the silence as a blessing and eat in peace but I'm not known for my good life choices.

"So you talk nonstop for 20 minutes over random stuff but the moment we get personal you shut up?" He just ate his food. "Come on man humor me. What drives the son of Ares to go on a quest to kill a Monster God?" When I say it like that it sounds pretty cool (not going to tell him that though).

"It's none of your business." I hit a cold wall

"You're right, it is none of my business." He looked up at me with a confused face. "Doesn't mean we have to stay here for the next couple hours talking about useless stuff."

Aindrea looked tempted for a second before scowling and continued to eat his food. I was close but he withdrew into that little impenetrable fortress called pride. I gave it one more shot.

"Seriously man, whatever reason you have for doing this I won't judge. My reason isn't exactly worth writing about." He didn't answer so I shrugged. "Whatever, I was just curious and I'm not going to fight you to open up." Never did understand why protagonist fought their rivals to make them say their true feelings. I heard Aindrea humph lightly.

"Like you can ever force me to do anything." I deadpanned at his superior tone.

"Big talk from a guy who got his ass handed to him by Pasha." He blushed in embarrassment.

"I-I didn't get my ass handed to me! I could have easily won with my magic but it's too deadly and you said not to kill him!"

"Sure, whatever you say buddy."

"Why are you so smug anyway!? You lost against him too!" Aindrea pointed at me in anger.

"I did most of the damage so I'm better."

"The damage that made him use his balance breaker and made the situation worse?" I waved my hand at the pretty spot on analysis.

"Semantics." Aindrea looked like he wanted to say something else but instead sighed and began eating his food a little rougher. Looking around I noticed a lot of the patrons were talking about our attack on the palace yesterday. Most of it was about how Spain and England sent assassins to kill the Sultan. Others talked about how it was only three super humans that were terrorizing the city by attacking its political center. Some were even talking about how Liam escaped and that he had a hand in the chaos.

"Oh?" I watched as soldiers started coming in and I placed a hand on Aindreas shoulder to keep him calm. We watched as they looked around, cross checking people that seemed suspicious (oddly enough we didn't seem weird to them), and left once they found nothing. The tense mood from them entering vanished almost immediately and regular chatter picked up again.

"Man, that's the third time they've come in here looking for the assassins." A random patron said that.

"Well what do you expect? The Sultan isn't going to just let whoever attacked the palace go free. They're even monitoring the harbors and those that are planning to leave the city." A second patron scuffed in reply.

'We really got them riled up.' Looking out the window to the streets, I could make out at least 2 times the amount of soldiers compared to a couple days ago. They would periodically stop some citizens and some were even taken away for questioning. 'I'm really glad we chose to wear masks.' For a time, the stake out was done in silence until Aindrea got a second wind and started talking about his homeland in the Far East. It would be more interesting if he wasn't talking about all the competitions he's won and all the prizes he's got.

'This is going to be a long stake out.'

* * *

**3 Hours Later, Back at the Hideout**

I slammed open the door to the hideout. I saw Maven and Samantha playing chess while Vargas was drinking tea. They all looked at me and I made a beeline straight to Maven.

"What happ-" Grabbing her by the arms I held her in place. She blushed and struggled, trying to get out of my grip. "W-wait what are y-"

"I'm calling in that favor." Maven stopped and tilted her head at what I said.

"Huh?"

I told her my favor before she confusingly agreed and then I dragged Maven to her room. 20 minutes later, Maven and I walked out to see Aindrea also arrived.

"What was all that about?" Samantha asked for an explanation but I only stared at Aindrea. He raised a brow at my look and spoke.

"…" I heard nothing. Tears of pure joy came out as I hugged Maven and thanked her like she saved my whole family.

"P-put me down!" She desperately waved her hands and I dropped her. She hid behind the couch once I did so. 'Are you a cat?'

"…" Aindrea spoke again but I could only tell because his mouth was moving. I pressed my finger behind my ear and I could feel a very small magic circle there.

"…for?" I asked him to repeat that.

"What are you so excited for?" I patted his shoulders and told him not worry about it. I looked around but I couldn't see anyone else. When I asked where everyone is Vargas said that they were in the Bazaar.

"Melissa is supposed to take the night shift with you later right?" Samantha nodded at my question. "Then I need your help with something."

* * *

**1 Hour Later, Grand Bazaar**

I walked through the Bazaar in the direction of Melissa. With _Chi Vision_ I quickly found her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" She turned around and looked surprised before she smiled. "Are you and Aindrea done with your shift?" I tried to stop the twitch of my eyes as the memories of the last 3 hours started coming back.

'Put them in a cage, burn it with fire, toss it in a corner…okay I'm good.' Taking a deep breath, I looked back to a now confused Melissa. "Yeah, I'm done. Are you free?"

"Yeah, I'm free until nighttime. Why?" I gave a cryptic smile before telling her to follow. We met with Adrian and Liam who were trying to buy some light armor from a vendor.

"Hey Adrian." He turned to me.

"Oh hey Pierce. Where are you guys going?"

"Just a place I want to show Melissa. We'll be back before sun down don't worry." Adrian looked between us before he smirked and gave me good luck pat on the shoulder. I brought Melissa to an alley close by and crouched before telling her to get on my back. She shrugged and hopped on (I tried to keep a straight face when I felt her womanly figure on my back). I activated _Touki_ and quickly became a blur as I ran through the city towards a large park. Maneuvering through the park, I stopped on a tall hill that over looked Constantinople.

"Wow!" Melissa was impressed and she had a right to be. The grassy hill had a single tree and you could see the entire city from here. The Sultan's palace, the Grand Bazaar, the hundreds of smaller houses, and even the many ships that floated in the open waters. "It's beautiful."

"I'm glad you like it." Melissa turned back and her eyes widened as I put down a large blanket and basket I kept in my space ring. "Tonkatsu? Did I say that right?" I held up the deep fried pork and Melissa mechanically took it.

"How do you know I lik-" She stopped as I kept taking out other Japanese food (Matsutake, Hijiki, Makizushi, and rice.)

'At least, I know what rice is.' I made a wry smile. 'It was a bitch making the others thou-' I realized Melissa got quiet and looked up at her. She was looking at me in a daze.

"I asked Samantha what some of your favorite foods are." I started sweating when she still didn't react. "S-should I not have?"

"Did you make all this?" I lightly nodded at her question and watched as Melissa's went from confusion to realization to mirth all in one second. She looked down at the pork and took a bite.

"H-how is it?" I nervously watched as Melissa chewed the food. 'Is it weird I'm more worried for her opinion than fighting Pasha?'

"It's chewy." Melissa's answer brought a slump to my shoulders.

"S-sorry, I don't know much on cooking po-" I was interrupted by Melissa's lips kissing mine. Her lips were soft and tasted like pork (no shit Sherlock). It took a second for me to react and I kissed her back. It was awkward and nothing like the kisses you'd see on drama shows but man was it the highlight of my 16 years of life. 'Even when I found out I could use _Chi_...theres a problem there somewhere but I don't care!' We kissed for a while before separating and Melissa gave me beautiful smile.

"Thank you. No one's done something like this for me in awhile." I frowned a little at that but she just kissed me once more before sitting down. We started eating (well I tried to keep up as Melissa inhaled the food) and watched the great city. We didn't talk about much, just where in the city they visited, where she and Samantha are going to stake out the palace, and making comments on the food. Point to take out in all of this? I suck at cooking. 'At least she had a good time.' We stayed there till the sun started setting and packed up the picnic. Melissa gave me a ride this time as we traveled back to the hideout through the Shadow Realm. When we got back I rubbed my arms.

'That…felt familiar.' I frowned at the thought before shaking my head. 'Nah it's probably nothing.' Melissa came close and hugged me before letting go.

"Thank you for this, it was fun." She turned to find Samantha for her shift before I grabbed her hand.

"I remember you talking about that old turtle in your hometown." Melissa titled her head, wondering where I was going with this. "I just want you to know if you ever want to talk about anything…just think of me as your old turtle." We both stood there in silence before what I finally heard what I just said. "Umm, let me try that again." Melissa leaned in and kissed me again. Just this time I was ready and it got pretty heated. When we finally separated she looked at me with a smirk.

"I'll hold you to that." Then she walked inside. I watched the door she went through in a daze.

Naturally, I did what any mature adult would do in the body of a 16 year old that just scored with a very beautiful woman. I jumped a couple meters into the air and clicked my feet together.

'I love my life!'

* * *

**2 Days Later**

I sat on a bench across from the palace gates while eating a snow cone. Ignoring the fact that they had snow cones in this time period, I did my shift with Aindrea.

"…" He kept moving his mouth but I couldn't hear a thing. I nodded my head every so often to pretend I was paying attention. Overall, these last 2 days were spent waiting for Gazanfer's signal, spending time with Melissa, or training with Adrian and Vargas. For a time I honestly thought Froid was never going to come and that Safiye found a way to warn him about what happened. That was, until I saw a red tailed hawk flying from a tower in the palace. With _Chi Vision _I saw Gazanfer was the one who released it and he was nervous. Froid came back. I quickly got up and turned off the "Aindrea's Voice Blocker" spell.

"…and that's why you should never sleep with a centaur's sister." I did a double take.

'…He has got to be making stuff up at this point, right?' I quickly shook my head and pointed at the sky. Aindrea looked up and realization dawned on his face before he looked back at me.

"Let's go kill a Vampire Lord." Than we ran to the hideout.

* * *

And done. They got the bait, they have the tools, and now the venue. Time to face an Ultimate-class Vampire. I hope you enjoyed the chapter.


	12. Chapter 11

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**The Crowned Reaper**: I thought so too.

**Scandalf**: Yeah you're right but I can't just drop in a well known member of DxD right where Pierce is because it doesn't really make sense. Most of the main cast isn't alive yet and the ones that are won't appear for a while because they're all doing their own things. I can't just have someone like Azazel pop up (no matter how funny it would be) since he's the leader of the Grigori and Pierce is on a mission given by the Greek Gods to kill Zeth. I'll have Pierce eventually meet the more well known DxD characters like Sirzechs, Grafyia, Ajuka, Fafnir, Tannin, etc. but that's when he's so deep into the supernatural world that will make sense for him to meet them.

**apostlelord**: Thanks man! I'm glad you're enjoying it and I hope you like the rest!

* * *

**Chapter 11: A Journey of a Thousand Miles Starts with One Dead Vampire**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and this fanfic is all I have to fill that void. The OCs belong to me.

* * *

**Sultan's Palace**

Froid walked through the halls of the Sultans palace. Many servants and guards that he passed bowed to him as he walked by. Being the palace alchemist did not warrant these reactions but having the full support of the valide Sultan to do what he wished did. The looks of fear and respect always gave Froid a warm, fuzzy feeling in his stomach.

'Which is ironic considering I'm cold blooded but oh well.' Smirking as another maid bowed than scampered away at the sight of him, Froid made his way to his faithful thrall. Being a direct descendant from of the House of Vladi, Froid grew up around arrogant, pompous nobles who even looked at other noble houses with disdain. Self importance and egocentric was the way of life he was taught and Froid let those teachings influence his every decision. For a time, Froid tried his hands in the politics of clan Vladi and quickly rose to the top of the vampire world's hierarchy. Expect it wasn't enough. Once he usurped his father and took the head position of House Vladi Froid figured out the life of a vampire was mind numbingly boring. Stuck in the darkness watching human corruption, attending boring noble customs that made no changes to anything, and partaking in debauchery that only entertains him for short periods of time. When Froid became an Ultimate-class vampire, the Tepes and Carmilla Factions were created and butted heads. It was fun for a good decade, but the fighting stopped after seeing how evenly matched each faction was and the stalemate brought an end to Froid's amusement. For a long time he just wandered through his immortal life, doing what he could to entertain himself before Zeth found him.

'Now that was an interesting day.' Froid gave a croaked smile at his king's offer. To join Zeth in his future war against Olympus and to be a founder of his monster kingdom. Froid did not think for a second that he had a chance against the Greek Gods but the thought of bringing the House of Vladi and making Mount Olympus its new base sent a wave of greed over Froid. So he followed Zeth and became one of his 9 Generals. Since then he's worked on a new strain of vampirism to bring all the cannon fodder Zeth will ever need to raid Olympus.

'More than that spider slut can ever provide.' Remembering his fellow General, Froid eventually reached Safiye's room and walked in. She was nowhere to be seen. Froid frowned. 'She should know better.' Froid was a patient man but that's only when it comes to his research and contacts. After making his way to Spain to meet with an associate that supposedly had a rare stabilizing agent that could help perfect Froid's vampiric Black Plague, he was not happy to find it was a fake. He made his displeasure real clear to the contact by staying a couple more days to torture him. 'Shame, we never got to the scalping before he died.' Grimly chuckling by the man's gruesome end, Froid walked to the secret door and opened it. Making his way down, he found the second door's defenses were very much lacking compared to before. His undead heart skipped a beat.

'What the hell? I never got an indicator from my detection spell.' Immediately opening it and stepping in the portal, Froid found his laboratory just like he left it. Horrifying equipment all over, experiment subjects lying around, and the magical storage in the back. Expect the subjects were all dead, the storage was destroyed, and Safiye was desperately trying to do something on the table. Rage would be a kind word to describe Froid's emotions at the moment. He moved and cleared the dozen of meters in an instant, appearing by Safiye's side.

"Master?! Oh thank Alla-" Safiye never got to finish before she was grabbed by her throat and hoisted in the air.

"What is the meaning of this!? What happened!?" Safiye didn't struggle as she retold the attack and how the vials were taken between choked breathes.

"Why didn't you contact me!?"

"I…tried…I couldn't…reach you…" That only made Froid angrier but it wasn't directed at Safiye. Dropping his thrall on the ground, he ignored her coughing and went into deep thought. The reason Safiye couldn't contact Froid was because the moment's he went to meet a contact of his, Froid typically does it completely under the radar. No magical communication or letters from the outside (the detection spell indicator was his only exception). That's how Froid had such a wide intelligence base without anyone knowing who he meets with. That came back to bite him in the ass.

Froid's vampiric energy rose as the bodies around him became bloodstains and the walls cracked under his aura. It took all of Safiye's will power not to pass out by the pressure her master was giving out.

"Do you know who did this?" Then the air went back to normal and Safiye could breathe again.

"N-no, my Lord. I don't know who the assailants were…" Froid didn't get mad at her lack of knowledge since he already had an idea.

'I don't know if I should be offended or not that an Emissary would pick me as their first target.' Froid, like the rest of the Generals, knew that they would be "hunted down" by the Greek God's Emissaries. Froid just never thought a group would come right when he was about to perfect his new strain with the Black Plague. Reaching out, Froid couldn't find the vial with his tracking spell but it wasn't destroyed since his other marker hasn't relayed anything back to him.

'So they want to use it as bait?' Froid snorted at the plan before turning to his thrall. "Come, let's go upstairs. No point in staying down here." He turned to leave.

Safiye quickly got up and followed Froid back to her room, confused on how calm her master was being. He wasn't, Froid was livid. But…

'This could be interesting.' Froid's bloodthirsty smile never left his face as he walked out the laboratory.

* * *

**2 Days Later, Outside the Sultan's Palace**

"Yep." I nodded sagely. "He still ain't moving."

"Urghhhh…" Maven's groan of frustration was my only reply. She laid back on the roof of the building we were on. I was crouched on the edge with _Chi Vision_ on. I could see Froid in one of the main buildings, no less than 20 meters away from the valide Sultan. He's been doing this for the past 2 days. The guy's got patience I'll give him that.

'Than again, being an immortal vampire probably gives him that luxury.' The group alternated every so often the past 2 days to watch Froid's movements. Adrian was hoping that Froid eventually will get annoyed with the lack of response and try to find us himself. But he hasn't and we couldn't just attack him since he's in the palace. I did not feel like fighting Pasha and Malcolm while making sure not to kill than when facing a vampire lord. 'I miss the days when the strongest thing I ever fought was the Tyrant.' I looked over at Maven and saw how she was perfectly fine under the hot sun with her thick robe.

"You have cooling runes in those robes too?"

"Yep, but these are a little different than what I did for your black hat and coat. The spell I have in these robes regulate temperature depending on hot or cold it is outside." I gave a quick "ah" before facing the palace (ergo, if it's cold the robe gets warmer, if it's hot the robe gets cooler).

"Magic sure sounds useful, wish I was a genius that can learn every magic there is."

"Who says you can't?" Maven looked at me with a smirk. I was a little stunned by the implication.

"I-I can learn magic? I thought you can only learn magic when you're young or if you're from some magical family." Maven shook her head and got up.

"Everyone can learn magic Pierce. Just depends on what you're affinity is and how much effort you put in to learn."

"Hmmm… I may just try that out." Learning how to shoot huge fireballs or make clones of myself does sound pretty awesome. Maven held out a book to me and I looked up at her. Seeing I wasn't taking it, she rolled her eyes and dropped the book in my lap.

"An affinity test book. Every student is given one at my school to test what magic they are most suited for."

"Really? It's that easy?" Maven's brows furrowed and she tilted her head.

"You say that a lot."

"What do you mean?"

"Everything time we explain something to you; you react like it's outside the norm or you expected it to be something completely different."

"…That is true. I'm sorry." She wasn't wrong. Everything leading up to now be it talking with the Greek Gods, going after Zeth, springing a trap for a vampire lord, and this all being the beginning…

'I really hate those fan fictions where the main character can solve every problem in the world with his knowledge of DxD because I've been running blind since I got here.' I picked up the book on my lap and opened it. All the pages were blank as I flipped through them. I didn't get it.

"Put your hand on an empty page."

"Oh!" I placed a hand on a blank page and I could feel…something being taken from me and 3 different colors shined on the page. One color was a shiny silver, another was an emerald green, and the last was actually a cornucopia of dull colors on a black background. Like a galaxy.

"Oh…" Maven seemed intrigued by the colors as she hunched over to get a closer look.

"Is that a good thing?"

"Having 3 affinities is pretty good. Granted with time you can learn every magic there is, you're affinities are typically the magic's you focus on." I nodded along like a diligent student. "That color of silver symbolizes Strengthening Magic and the green symbolizes Healing Magic."

"That makes sense. I mainly use _Chi_ for physical enhancement and healing, should have known my magic would be the same." It was no elemental control or illusion magic but it matched with my strengths. "What about the last one?"

"That's Space-Time Magic."

"Is that rare?" My eyes shined with excitement, thinking that the higher power that put me here was finally taking pity on me and gave me a once in a lifetime affinity.

"Nope." Maven popped that fantasy bubble real fast. My face must have said what I was feeling because Maven laughed a second later. "Sorry, sorry I said that a bit too fast. Space-Time Magic has a close relation to Teleportation and Summoning magic so the majority of magic users have a hand in it. But for it to be a main affinity is a little rare." I sighed a little before chinning up.

'Oh well, I'll take what I can get.' I looked at Maven again. "What are your magic affinities?" I wished I never asked. She hesitated for a second before placing her hand on a blank page of the book. 2 of the colors I just had with about every other one in the color spectrum appeared on the page. I had to shut it before I was blinded by the sea of red, green, blue, yellow, silver, etc.

"…"

"…"

"…Well that's just bullshit." I tossed the book back to Maven and returned to watching Froid with _Chi Vision_. 'Yep, still hasn't moved.'

"Pierce…"

"Bullshit." Maven chuckled low at my tone before she got quiet. A minute passed before she spoke again.

"…I'm sorry." She sounded bitter. I frowned at her tone and her face actually looked remorseful. I placed a hand on her arm.

"Hey relax, I was just kidding…well I still think it was a little bullshit but it's no big deal." Maven's body relaxed when I said that.

"Really? You're not mad?" I furrowed my brows.

"Maven, are you alright?" She was got quiet again before speaking.

"It's just…every time I showed someone how many affinities I had or how quickly I learned magic they, well they typically gave me a wide birth afterwards."

"Oh…" I got the idea. "They were intimidated by you?" She nodded.

"I didn't have a lot of friends when I was a kid in my school because of it, so…" I patted Maven on the back before she could finish.

"Well don't worry, I'm not that shallow. Nothing you could do can scare me off. I mean, I met the God King of Olympus and with my skills I still think it's a good idea to go after someone that's as strong as him. If anything, you should be scared of being around me since I hear idiocy is contagious." Maven chuckled at my joke and we both sat there in comfortable silence.

'Must have been hard.' I peeked over at Maven a couple of times to see if she was alright (she was for the most part). I can kind of get where she was coming from, she wasn't bullied but she was still ostracized by others her age. 'She was 12 too when she finished magic school. That probably didn't help.' I had to deal with my town fearing me for being something they had no experience with just like Maven and her peers. Only difference being was that I had the soul of a fully grown adult while Maven was still a kid.

"Where are your parents?"

"…They're gone." Welp.

'You're 2 for 2 Pierce. Shall we go for 3?' Wanting to punch myself for asking, I tried to apologize before Maven gave me a wry smile.

"They're not dead Pierce." I was confused by that.

"What do you mean? Did they abandon you?"

"No it's just…look it will take more time than we have to explain and I've come to terms with it. Can you please drop it?" I stared a bit before nodding and Maven gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you." We both went back to staking out the palace until Adrian and Vargas came to switch with us.

"Has he done anything?" I shook my head. "God damn it."

"Are you sure we shouldn't just go with plan B?"

"Let's wait a bit longer." Shrugging, I waved them goodbye and went back to the hideout with Maven. Once inside I watched as she gave a quick goodbye and retreated into her room. Now I felt bad for prying.

'I should really apologize later.' I felt an aura behind me and Melissa hugged me as she rested her chin on my shoulder.

"What are thinking about?"

"Just wondering, how much do you know about Maven before she joined the group?" Melissa gained a thoughtful expression before shrugging.

"Not much. I knew she was the top magician of her class and that she traveled a little. Why?"

"Just seems like she has a lot of her mind sometimes." Melissa stared at me for a second before smiling.

"Okay!" I deadpanned at the pause.

"It's not like that. She told me some stuff earlier and I pried more than I should have. That's all." Melissa came to my side and hugged my arm.

"I believe you. Now come on, there's a store that makes awesome cheese cake! Let's go!" Then I was dragged out the hideout by my gluttonous Yokai girlfriend.

'I wonder if anyone's ever said that.' I idly thought this is.

By the time we got to the store and Melissa ate 2 slices of cheese cake (she said she likes to go slow and savor the taste when it comes to cake) my communication ring buzzed. I looked at the message and showed it to Melissa; we both nodded and got up.

"Time for Plan B." That was the message said.

* * *

**Hagia Sophia, Abandoned Hall**

"**Territorialis Agri!" **A visible wave expanded from Maven and the air became lighter. My body felt free and even my manipulation of _Chi_ became smoother.

"What was that?"

"A Fairy Spell that boost allies' capabilities and lowers an enemies."

"Will that work on Froid?" Maven shrugged at my question

"Possibly, all I know is that in this zone we'll have better odds. It covers all of Hagia Sophia too."

"Cool." I looked at Adrian who was talking with Liam. "Any reason you chose to go with plan B?"

"Froid wasn't moving waiting any longer will just waste time. Is everyone ready?" We all nodded. "Alright than, Maven do it."

She stepped forward and waved her hand at the vials in the middle of the hall. **"Solvo." **One of the seals dissolved and another shined before dimming.

"Now we wait." I snorted

* * *

**1 Hour Later, Sultan's Palace**

"I wonder what she called us for." Malcolm lightly stroked his beard as he walked with Pasha.

"Whatever it is I just hope it's not another lecture." Pasha sighed as both of them reached the throne room. "Her Majesty's mood has not gotten better these past 2 day."

"My mood wouldn't be good if I had to spent time around that fraud." Malcolm scuffed. "I still don't understand why her Majesty brought that man as the palace's new alchemist."

"Enough. I'm opening the doors." Pasha may have agreed with Malcolm's opinion on Froid but it still wasn't the time or the place. Walking in, they saw Safiye along with Froid by her side standing in the middle of the room.

"You called for us your Majesty?" Pasha and Malcolm both bowed.

"Yes I did. You are to immediately depart and deal with the intruders that wrecked havoc in the palace."

"You know where they are your Majesty?" Pasha was little shocked. He had his men scour the city but they couldn't find a single one of the attackers. 'Did he find them?' Pasha peeked over at Froid who was being silent.

"They are taking shelter in Hagia Sophia. I already had the imperial soldiers lock down the building and make sure no one get's in."

"I will depart at once and deal with the intruders."

"Bring Malcolm with you." That made Pasha pause.

"I-I don't think that's a good idea your Majesty. Who will protect you when we're gone?" Safiye waved her hand at his concerns.

"You won't be gone long. I'll be fine."

"Really your Majesty I'll feel more at ease if Malco-"

"I didn't ask what for your opinion or concerns." Safiye didn't care. "You are to leave and wipe out those fools at once!"

"Y-yes your Majesty!" Pasha quickly bowed and made for the door. Malcolm stayed a second longer and stared at Froid before following. The Head Guard and Chancellor walked down the halls before stopping. They stared at each other.

"Something's wrong." Malcolm felt something was off with her Majesty ever since she killed her servant but only now said something.

"I agree…do you remember what Gazanfer said yesterday?" The Head Eunuch tried to say how something was suspicious about Froid and that he should watch out for him. "Do you think it has anything to do with the rumor going around about the Greek Gods?"

"Possibly…" Malcolm and Pasha had more than their fair share of contacts when it comes to the supernatural world. They've heard of the war between the Greek Gods and the God of Monsters Zeth but they just don't have any more information than that. "It can't be a coincidence something like that happens and her Majesty starts acting weird a year later. First thing after taking care of the intruders, I'm going to run a background check on Froid. I don't care if her Majesty brought him in, I don't trust him."

Pasha watched him walk away and remembered what one of the intruders told him.

"_Would you believe if I said that doing this will save you're empire?"_

'What is going on?' Pasha wondered this as he followed Malcolm

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

'Well that's not good.' This was the second time in an hour that I frowned. The first time was when I saw dozens of auras clear out the building and made sure no one can get in. Now? I could feel the aura of the Head Guard and the other man that Maven fought against enter. Froid was nowhere to be seen. 'Probably should have seen that coming.'

"We got a problem. Froid isn't here but Pasha and the other Sacred Gear user is here."

"Malcolm came too? He must have sent them to whittle down our strength." Liam seemed surprised by their arrival and picked up his Holy Sword.

"Can't you just talk to them? You know, explain what's going on and expose who Froid is?" Vargas hoped for the pacifist approach. Liam shook his head.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they already had some suspicion about Froid but they are first and foremost soldiers. They will try and take us out before "cleaning the house"." I sighed at his answer.

'Why can't anything ever be easy?' I rubbed my face as Adrian stepped forward.

"Melissa, hide in the Shadow Realm and bring Samantha along too." She followed his orders (though she looked hesitant when grabbing Samantha's arm). "Pierce, Vargas, and Maven you guys deal with Malcolm. Maven already has experience fighting him." All 3 of nodded. "The rest of us will deal with Pasha."

"We need to separate them; I've had the unfortunate pleasure of fighting the 2 of them together. It's not pretty. " Liam gave his input.

"What happens when Froid gets here? Do we keeping fighting or retreat?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, try to take your opponent out as fast as you can. If it becomes too much, run." The discussion ended there and we got into our groups. Pasha and Malcolm were only 3 floors above us now. Everyone got their weapons out.

"I'll go say hi." _Touki_ flaring, I ran down the halls at max speed and in 5 seconds moved up 3 floors, stopping at the end of the hall. Pasha and Malcolm turned the corner and stopped. There were dozens of animated armors behind them.

'Here go's nothing.' I pointed my crossbow at them. "Would you guys believe-"

"I believe you." Pasha interrupted me. I blinked.

"…We're still going to fight aren't we?" The animated soldier's got into formation.

"Her Majesty wants you're head. We shall deliver it."

"Even if she's being controlled by Froid since he's a Vampire Lord?"

Pasha unsheathed his sword. "I don't know if that's true, but I do know you attacked the Sultan's Palace and for that you shall receive judgment."

"…I've could of tried harder but I really don't care. I distracted you guys long enough." Both their eyes widened before Maven's voice rang out.

"**Simulium Peccetur!" **Space seemed to warp around us as Malcolm and I ended up in a completely different hall. Maven and Vargas appeared on both sides of Malcolm. Maven looked tired though.

"…why couldn't you just move him into a locked room or something?"

"Those with basic magical resistance can stop the relocation if it's too far. This was the best I could do." She took a large gulp of air.

"Ah." I ducked right after as a blade of wind tried to take off my head than jumped to the side to avoid the follow up. Vargas rushed at Malcolm who shoot a mini cyclone at him and flung him back. I shot _Chi_ coated arrows at him and he created a wind wall to stop them.

"**Hastam Ignis!"** Maven shot a large fire spear at Malcolm who flew into the air, the explosion missing him. I kept shooting arrows and he flew through the air dodging them all. Vargas roared as yellow apparitions in the shape of holy knights appeared around him. This was one of his Odes given to him by being the spirit inheritor of Galahad. The apparitions shot waves of holy spears at Malcolm and he had to divert their paths by manipulating the wind. Everywhere the holy spears land, large explosions of light made the hall shine and blinded him. I jumped the distance between me and Malcolm, slicing at him with my sword. I nicked him in the side.

"Arghh!" Malcolm hit me with a large fist made of wind and sent me flying through a large pillar. I landed heavily on the ground and gritted my teeth as another wind fist smashed down on me. Vargas stepped in front of me and his shield was covered in a yellow aura. He's knees buckled as a crater appeared at his feet, showing the force behind Malcolm's attack. I quickly placed a hand on his back and gave Vargas my _Chi_. He was covered in _Touki_ and had a much easier time holding back the attack. Growls emitted from all sides and I saw that 6 wind tigers encroached on our position.

'He can make wind tigers? Seriously?' As Vargas held back the wind fist till it died down, I quickly punched the tigers away and picked up my sword, slicing 4 of them to pieces. Maven was sending more fire spears at Malcolm who just meet them with small cyclones.

"**Spiritus Custos!" **A 10 meter tall yellow avatar appeared behind Vargas. It had Templar armor, a huge bastard sword, and strings of light shooting from its back. It rushed through the 2 remaining wind tigers and swung down at Malcolm. The Chancellor waved his hand and a large wind butterfly appeared in front of the yellow titan.

"**Papilio Venti." **Malcolm's Sacred Gear subspecies' head butted the swing and a large shockwave exploded from the impact. A large crater surrounded the beings and they quickly got to fighting. Vargas' avatar kept swinging its sword and Malcolm's butterfly either send wind bullets at it or rammed into it.

"…Are you Catholic?" Vargas didn't answer as he caught his breath and ran to Malcolm. I followed quickly after. 'I really need to find my gimmick…'

Vargas came behind Malcolm and tried to slice him in half. He flew up and was met with my foot as I hit him on the side. He was kicked to the ground and had to send multiple wind blades to cut Vargas' holy knights. Maven lifted the ground he was on and Malcolm rolled off the elevated rock before it hit the roof. I tried to pierce him with my sword before I felt something grab my leg. I looked down to see a wind rope wrapped around my ankle.

"Oh sh-" I was flung into the wall as cracks appeared on impact. Rolling to the side as I dodged multiple wind blades, I shot arrows at Malcolm and managed to distract him enough for Maven's fireball to land a direct hit.

"Arghhhh!" Malcolm's side was burned and Vargas quickly cut him on the shoulder. He tried to hit Vargas with a wind fist but he retreated.

"**Frame Terra!" **Malcolm dodged an earth spear that shot out the ground and moved right into my fist. I sent the Chancellor through a pillar (karma's a bitch) and Vargas was waiting on the other side. He grabbed Malcolm and swung him to ground making a crater. I could hear Malcolm's spine creaking from the impact.

'That's got to hurt.' Malcolm spewed blood and an enraged expression on his face. "Vargas, Pierce get-" Maven tried to warn us.

"**Kukulkhan's Exsilium."** A large wave of wind expanded from Malcolm, everything around him was pushed back and shredded us both included. I could feel hundreds of wind blades cutting into my body; thankfully _Touki_ stopped them from going any deeper than skin.

"Aaahhhhh!" Still hurt like a bitch though. 'Is this what death by a thousand cuts feels like? No wonder it's a form of torture!' We slid across the ground and slowly got up as every movement increased the pain from the cuts. Malcolm sat up as a huge crater with many cuts on the ground surrounded him. He looked exhausted.

"**Cavea Principalis Glacies!"** Malcolm couldn't dodge the ice wave Maven sent his way and was frozen solid. The wind butterfly fighting Vargas' avatar also disappeared. Maven quickly ran to us once she saw that he wasn't getting out.

"You don't look so hot." Maven gave a cheeky smile and tried to help me up. I snorted.

"Speak for yourself I'm gor- yeah nope can't do it, everything hurts." My _Chi_ stopped the bleeding and was working on healing my skin but all the cut nerves made it impossible to banter. "How come you weren't this cut up last time?"

"Lots of protection spells." We watched as Melissa and Samantha walked out the shadows over to us. Samantha got **Saint Chapter** out and kneeled by Vargas.

"**Restituet Nerui. Restituet Cutis." **A magic circle appeared under Vargas and a green glow covered him. All his injuries quickly disappeared and he got up. Then she walked over to me and healed the damage that my _Chi_ didn't get to.

"Thanks." I rolled my shoulders and looked over at the frozen Malcolm. "What do we do with him?"

"I'll put some sealing spells on him." Maven walked forward and started working on that. Melissa gave me a towel.

"Here to clean yourself." I looked down and realized I was covered in my blood. My black hat and coat were also shredded.

"Ah man, I really liked this outfit." I grabbed the towel and started wiping all the blood off my body. I was pretty much in torn rags at this point and had to strip down to my underwear. 'Note to self, ask Maven to put some protection spells on the rest of my clothes. Or start wearing armor.' I finished wiping and dropped the bloody towel.

"Thanks for the-" I paused as Melissa stared at my body with quite the intensity. She eyes locked on to my abs before her gaze traveled down. About a minute later I finally got her attention.

"Melissa?"

"Hmm?" She snapped up at that and a blush appeared on her face. I only chuckled at her reaction before taking out extra clothes from my space ring. I selectively ignored her whine when I was fully clothed.

'I forgot for a second that in DxD, supernatural woman are more honest about their desires. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that this world is swarming with beings that can live for thousands of years and many are pretty much walking nukes.' Maven finished putting seals on Malcolm and Vargas carried him over his shoulder.

"We should go see if the others are done fighting Pasha." We all nodded and turned to move.

I took 2 steps before stopping and felt the massive aura coming down the stairs. Melissa felt it too from the look she was giving me.

"What happened?" We didn't answer Maven's question as we looked at the creature that slithered into the hall. An enormous python that easily reached the ceiling and looked like it could eat us all at once and still be hungry stared us down. The silence was deafening as no one moved.

"…Nice big ass snake?" The python opened its mouth and shot purple smoke straight at us. Everything it touched melted and Samantha quickly put up a yellow barrier that stopped it from reaching us. Before the barrier started melting too.

"Melissa!" She quickly grabbed Maven and Samantha before going into the Shadow Realm (The max she can bring is 2 people). Than Vargas and I booked it down the hall, the huge reptile chasing after us. Why didn't we stay and fight? Cause the python ran into Vargas' avatar and it was flung through a wall, destroying it on impact. The concrete where the python slithered shattered under its weight and any pillar in its way was pulverized. We ran in zigzags as the python kept shooting purple smoke at us and more than once did it come dangerously close. We turned a corner and raced down the stone stairs that it couldn't fit through. The python just pushed its way through the stone.

'Of course, because that'd be too easy.' I scowled as I stopped and waited for the python to reach me.

"Pierce! What are yo-" I jumped over the overgrown reptile as it tried to eat me and landed on its scaly back. I crouched as it paid no attention to me and continued to chase Vargas. 'This seems vaguely familiar.' Pouring a large amount of _Chi_ into my sword, I pierced down into its hide and was met with a loud ting. I tried slashing a couple more times but they just left shallow white marks. Putting the sword away I jumped to the top of the python's head and my right hand shined in a thick white aura. I smashed down with a _Seismic Fist_ and a loud boom was heard as it sank a little into the concrete. My _Chi_ pierced through its scales and destroyed a couple inches of flesh…before stopping altogether.

'Welp.' While it didn't kill the snake, it definitely hurt as it shook and I had to jump off as it tried to smash its head against the wall. Landing down next to Vargas, we resumed running and eventually reached a side door that led downstairs to the others. Not looking back, we reached another hall. The snake wasn't behind us anymore. 'Did it give up?'

"Come on lets g-" I stopped Vargas' by grabbing his arm. "What's wrong?" I looked around and activated _Chi Vision_. I could see over a hundred vampires hiding in the darkness and the huge snake was making its way here, it was 2 halls away. Vargas's eyes widened when I told him that.

"Well that's a shame. I was hoping to bring you're bodies to Lord Froid intact." A tall black man walked out his spot along with the other vampires. "Come quietly and I'll mak-" He never got to finish as a holy arrow embedded itself into his forehead and he turned to dust. Everyone stopped and turned to look at me. I shrugged as held the crossbow.

"I don't listen to villain monologues." The wall down the hall shattered as the huge python came through. It hissed and starting slithering to us.

"…Vargas, you hold back the vampires. I got an idea." I started walking to the approaching snake.

"What are you going to do?" Vargas summoned more holy knights and sent them to fight the vampires.

"Something really stupid." I covered myself with the thickest _Touki_ I've ever done (I was pretty much a white beacon at this point) and sprinted forward. Every step I took left a small crater and when the python opened its mouth to swallow me, I jumped…right into its mouth. I could've imagined Vargas' face.

'I'm really glad I can't see anything in here.' I was swallowed by the snake and every overgrown muscle tried to crush me into mash. I traveled down its stomach and I could feel its supernatural digestive system trying to dissolve me. My _Touki_ stopped that from happening but it was decreasing at a visible rate. Taking out my sword, I channeled an enormous amount of _Chi_ and it became a meter long blade of light that pierce through the python's flesh. I could feel the roar of pain the python let out and I moved the blade in a circular motion. I cut the snake in half and I fell out of its severed stomach into the bloody ground. I rolled to the side as the severed pieces thrashed violently and smashed the surrounding concrete to pieces. They eventually stopped and the huge python died by blood loss.

'…I respect Jonah so much right now. Or was it Noah?' I was drenched in blood and some parts of my skin were burned by the digestive juices. My clothes were mostly gone. 'Not going to question why I still have my underwear, probably a rule of supernatural law in DxD.' Vargas and the vampires stopped to stare at me like I was insane. They weren't wrong. I took this moment to thin out the vampire's with my crossbow and the battle continued. Vargas and I made quick work of them. Wiping myself clean of python blood with one of the vampire's clothes, he walked up to me.

"…You were right, that was very stupid." I snorted as I changed into new clothes.

"I aim to please." We picked up Malcolm (Vargas chucked him to the side when fighting the vampires) and ran down the hall to where everyone else was. We had to go through more vampires since the place was pretty much swarming with them now and opened the door to the hallway we were originally in.

"Holy!" We ducked as a wave of flames flew overhead and burned clean through the opposite wall. The hall was a mess as Adrian, Liam, and Aindrea were fighting Froid. The Vampire Lord had hundreds of blood wolfs, bats, and hyenas blitzing them. Liam's **Dyrnwyn** was covered in bright flames and every swing sent sword beams that incinerated large groups. Adrian's god sword shined in sunlight as he parried every one of Froid's rapier thrust. Adrian even slashed Froid a couple of times and the cuts burned the vampire's skin. As for Aindrea…

"**Spartiatikí Poreía!" **Dozens of Spartan spears rained down on the blood creatures and the ones that got through were stopped by illusionary Spartan shields that hovered around Aindrea. He ran through and destroyed every enemy with his spear. It looked more like a slaughter than a fight.

'Show off.' Seeing Adrian being pushed by back Froid, I sprinted through the blood creatures and pierced my sword into Froid's side.

"Aahhh! You little shit!" Froid back handed me into the wall, my sword along with me. His side had a deep burned hole and it continued to spread. He sent a large snake made of shadows at me and I could only cross my arms in time to block. I could be feel my bones creak as I was pushed through multiple walls and slammed into the ground. I kicked the shadow snake to pieces and got to my feet as 3 more came into the room.

"What is with you and snakes!?" I had my sword at the ready before 4 larger shadow hounds came out and ate the snakes. I looked over and saw Melissa standing in a hall full of vampire corpses. The shadow snake dragged me to where she was fighting. I only had one question.

"…You're a Shadow Leopard but you use dog familiars?" She deadpanned

"Pierce, you have some really strange priorities." Touché. Melissa came close and looked like she was going to kiss me before stopping. She sniffed and crinkled her nose. "What is that smell?"

"Oh that? I jumped into the stomach of that giant python." She blinked.

"…Willingly?"

"It was all I got." I shrugged.

"…"

"…"

"…Good God, you're weird." Melissa sighed before rubbing my lips with her thumb and kissing them. We made out a little in the destroyed hall before stopping. "Let's go help the others."

"Yes Ma'am!" I mock saluted and we made our way back to the main fight. The entire underground of Hagia Sophia was wrecked (built to withstand earthquakes my ass) and everyone was here. Maven was throwing every elemental spell she had, Vargas' apparitions rushed forward, Liam kept sending fiery sword beams, and Adrian sent a large blast of sunlight. Froid tried to block them all. He failed miserably. A huge explosion that violently shook the building rang out and I got in front of Melissa to block the debris. Once the smoke settled, a massive crater that exposed a large portion of the underground appeared and Froid was nowhere to be seen.

"Pierce!" Everyone knew that was too easy. I scanned the area with _Chi Vision_ and found Froid manipulating the smoke to escape.

"Like hell." I immediately moved in front of him. I coated my sword in the same meter long aura of _Chi_ and a magic circle appeared in front of Froid as he wanted to block the attack. That wasn't happening.

"Arghhhh!" I cut through his magic circle and nailed him right in the chest. A shockwave rang out as I hit Froid so hard his chest caved in and he was flung a couple meters into wall. I kneeled as I breathed heavily. That attack used the remainder of my _Chi_ and even then Froid was still alive (barely). He dug himself out the rock and flopped to the ground. The vampire had burns, cuts, fractures, and still didn't die. Tenacious bastard, I'll give him that. I grabbed Adrian's outstretched hand and hoisted myself up.

"Good work." Adrian walked over to Froid and looked down on the broken Vampire Lord. He raised his sword to his neck. "Any last words?"

"…You're all going to die." Froid gave a humorless chuckle before spewing blood and coughing. "…I'm nothing compared to Zeth. Nothing! You all think that killing me is some grand achievement!? It's not! Zeth could at any time come and kill you all and there would nothing you could do about it! So don't get too comfortable because by the end of this, everything you love and care about will be blood and ashes!" Froid seemed to have all lost all strength as he lied down on the ground. Adrian made it quick as he sliced Froid's head off. The Vampire Lord disintegrated and the ashes flew away with the wind. Everyone breathed sighs of relief. I looked around and saw how battered we all looked. That's when I realized.

"…Where's Samantha?" Melissa's eyes widened at my question.

"Oh shit! Samantha!" She quickly hoped into the Shadow Realm and came out with the party's healer. "I am so sorry Samantha! I forgot you were in there because the vampires attacked me but I'm…really...Samantha?"

"Hmm?" Samantha just cutely tilted her head.

"…Why do you have that?" Melissa pointed to the crow made of shadows in Samantha's hands. The healer gave a quick "ah" and hugged the crow.

"Isn't she cute? Isn't the look in her eyes adorable?" It was pretty cute…until you look in its eyes and see nothing but the endless abyss.

'…Okay.' Everyone slowly backed away as Samantha played with the crow. "Um Melissa, what is that?"

"It's a shadow familiar. They live in the Shadow Realm and they can go outside, but they rarely do so. It's even rarer for them to get attached to someone. They usually get attached to people that have a connection with them. Spiritually." We all watched the beautiful blonde healer play with the crow of darkness in the destroyed underground of Hagia Sophia.

'My life is so weird…

I heard a groan as Pasha got up from the rubble and paused when he saw all the destruction.

"What hap-" He didn't get to finish as I kicked to the head, knocking him out. I heard Liam sigh.

"There was no need for that. Froid sneaked attacked him and tried to kill him but we saved him. Pasha knows everything now."

"Oh…" I looked down at the unconscious Head Guard. "…Nah don't regret it. He kicked my ass a couple days ago so we're even now."

"Ah-ha!" Aindrea pointed at me in triumph.

We all laughed at the absurdity of the situation and made our exit. Maven used a spell to clean us all up while Samantha got to work healing, Malcolm and Pasha included (though the crow was on her shoulder was staring at us the whole time so it was kind of freaky). Making our way out, they called off the guards and we were all invited to the Sultan's Palace. With Froid dead Safiye was no longer under his control and thanked us immensely for saving them all. She was still a vampire but she planned on staying in the valide Sultan's position a bit longer before faking her death and living her new life somewhere else. Safiye asked us if we wanted a reward for all we've done but we all refused.

"Actually…

Okay. Maybe not all of us.

...I do have one request."

* * *

**Sultan's Palace, Throne Room**

"I-Is this really all you want?" Safiye looked at me with an odd expression. I sipped the drink in my hand and sighed in relief as the maids fanned me. I leaned back farther in the throne.

"Yes, yes this is perfect." Soft music played as food was placed on the tables and dancers moved around. A small party was underway and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were all confused with my request since they were planning on celebrating anyway but they soon rolled with it. Safiye gave a quick "I see" and walked away to talk to everyone. I relaxed as a beautiful maid servant started feeding me before Melissa took the plate.

"You sure are enjoying yourself." She smiled as she sat on my lap and started eating the food. Ignoring my quick "hey!" she leaned on my chest and watched the party go on. "It's strange honestly. It's like we never kill Froid."

"Yeah, it is a little weird there's no aftermath but at least no one was killed or gravely injured."

"I guess." Melissa still seemed unsettled so I raised my cup.

"Well think of it this way. 1 down…

She smiled a little before clicking her cup against mine.

…8 more to go." Melissa finished for me and we both chugged our drinks. When I was done Melissa held my chin and softly kissed me. We stayed like this for a while until we heard a cough on the side. We turned to see Adrian quirking a brow at us, he wasn't impressed.

"There's a time and place for that sort of thing. On a king's throne in the middle of a party is not one of them!" We stared at him for second before I grinned and resumed making out with Melissa. She had no problem with that. I internally chuckled as I heard Adrian sigh in exhaustion.

…but man is it a good one.'

* * *

And done. A general bites the dust (literally) and the journey truly begins. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	13. Chapter 12

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**kerrykill**: You're not nit picking and thank you for calling me out on that, I've been waiting for someone to do that. I got to be honest; I know jack shit about history besides the bare basics. I'm not going to put in modern things like airplanes, machine guns, and cars but I did try to make human interaction as realistic as I could. Trying to make the way they all talk old timey to be really realistic would make me want to put a bullet in my head but more importantly, everyone else reading this would get annoyed real fast. I chose the lesser of 2 evils. Thanks for reading and make more responses like that.

**Bridd**: Ichiei never really bothered with dates in DxD and I get that since keeping track of all that would be a major pain in the ass. Its possible to make it so the Civil War hasn't happened yet and make Pierce meet Grayfia. I like to keep a certain level of realism in my writing and the odds of them actually meeting and getting together are pretty low. But I'll think on it, I mean it's Grayfia! She's a silvered hair, red eyed, maid beauty!

* * *

**Chapter 12: Rest and Relief the Wrong Way**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I wonder how Ichiei reacts when someone calls him the God of Breasts, it must be nice. Oh yeah the OCs are mine.

* * *

There are levels to everything.

That is a universal truth. No matter what world you go to there will always be a system of ranking. It could be of anything really. How much money you have, how beautiful or handsome you are, and many if not all times there will be a system to rank power. Take DxD for example; there are Low to High-class', Ultimate-Class, Satan-Class, God-Class, hell even Dragons fall under this class system.

And of course there are levels within levels. For example; take a High-class Devil like Riser and pit him against a High-Class Devil like Sairaorg, Riser will lose without a doubt. They're both the same ranking but Sairaorg has greater training, more battle experience, and an overall better mentality. Take an Ultimate-Class Devil like Bedeze Abaddon and have him fight Diehauser Belial, Diehauser will win because he trained harder to get to the same ranking and didn't take any strength boosters like the King's Piece. I don't even need explain the difference between Super Devils like Rizevim and Sirzechs, do I? No? Good.

So here's the thing, Froid was an Ultimate-Class vampire without a doubt. He had the vampiric energy reserves, the title, and he knew how to use his power. But at the end of the day he wasn't a fighter. He was a scientist (like Azazel but nowhere near the amount of battle experience) and the best I could compare him to would be a summoner. His main form of fighting is to overwhelm his opponents with his summoned pets and the other thing he had were curse spells but we all had the protection provided by Apollon through Adrian. Killing him was impressive and no one can say it was easy, but with all the advantages we had against Froid it wasn't worth singing about. Froid's importance to Zeth was more because he had the intelligence and contacts, not because of his strength. It'll hurt Zeth to lose him but we can't just sit around and pat ourselves on the back over it. I thought all this as I laid on the grass face first, groaning as I had bruises in places I didn't even know I could get bruises. Why was I thinking about DxD's overly complicated strength ranking while face first on the ground?

"Ready to go again?" I raised my head and watched as Athena walked up to me, a sword made perfectly out of dense _Chi_ in her hands. She was smiling up a storm.

Cause I was currently getting my ass beat by the Greek Goddess of War and Wisdom. I plopped my head right back in the grass.

Yeah, let's back track a little.

* * *

**3 Days Earlier, Constantinople**

With Froid dead and the Sultan's Palace grateful for what we've done, Adrian gave us time for some R&R. The majority of the vampires that were in the city entered the fight at Hagia Sophia and the stragglers were hunted down by Pasha (with Melissa and me helping). With no more danger around we explored the city and got to spend time in places that we weren't allowing in before curtsey of Safiye. Maven went into the Sultan's library, Vargas and Adrian rode on the boats to neighboring islands, and Melissa and I visited every restaurant in the great city.

'I'm really glad I already have a superhuman appetite or I would have never been able to keep up.' I wondered if all Yokai's have such appetites but no way am I asking her that, I might as well call her fat. 'I doubt she'll care but I'm not risking it!' Samantha and Aindrea oddly enough went together to the plays that were showing in the city. 'Never pegged him for a play guy but whatever.' By the end of the week, we all did what we wanted to do in Constantinople and made the trip back to London. Maven teleported us next to the same old store we entered Olympus through and went inside to see Thallo again. She had book in hand and was sitting in the same seat.

"We're clo-" Thallo stopped once seeing us before getting up and walking through the back door. We followed her.

"Did you stay here all this time?" I asked curious

"Yes."

"Do you not get bored?"

"I have my book so I don't get bored." Adrian and Maven walked through the gate she opened.

"But do you get breaks to walk around and do stuff?" Aindrea and Samantha walked through next.

"I don't have a lot of hobbies." Vargas then Melissa entered.

"What about your friends? When do you hang out with them?" I asked, standing ready to enter. Thallo shook her head.

"I don't have a lot of friends."

'…She doesn't even sound sad.' It was kind of creepy how monotone she sounded when saying that. 'Then again, this coming from the guy who doesn't care how his home town thinks of him.' The light got brighter as I felt a pull.

"Well, it was nice to see you Thallo. I hope we can hang out some time. Oh yeah, my names Pierce." Then I was sucked into the portal.

Thallo once again found herself staring at the spot Pierce was at before closing the gate. She went back to her seat before picking up her book and turning to a blank page. She asked faintly.

"What does it mean to "hang out"?" Text started appearing on the blank page that eventually formed the definition of hang out.

'Huh...' Thallo tilted her head. '…what a truly strange man.' Then she turned back to the page she was reading before.

* * *

**Top of Olympus**

I walked over the bridge to the God's dwelling with Adrian, Aindrea, and Vargas. Since we still had time to relax until Adrian found our next target, the girls decided to stay down on the surface of Olympus to explore the Greek Heaven. I would have joined them but I really wanted to take a shower (the bathhouses in Constantinople were nice but they can't beat modern plumbing in my opinion) and sleep on the beds (the Greek Gods sleep on the same beds, enough said). After walking into the main building and saying hello to the Carpo, we parted ways. I headed to my room for a hot shower and a good rest. That was the plan anyway but the moment I was a couple feet from my room I felt a tap on my shoulder. I think I reacted like I should have.

"Jesus mother Christ!" I jumped and backed away as I turned around. I was met with the shocked face of Athena and I breathed a sigh of relief. "For the love of God! Its one thing for me not to feel you're aura but do you have to appear behind me without a sound or smell!? I mean come on, that had to be on purpose! Who else does that if not for that reason?!" It may have been an overreaction but when you're used to having a certain level of awareness, you get a little freaked out when something completely by passes it. I heaved as I supported myself on the wall, exhausted from my rant. I heard a suppressed snort and looked up to Athena covering her mouth with her hand.

"Umm, I-I'm sorry?" Athena didn't look sorry if the way her shoulders trembled a little from holding back the chuckle. "I-I just wanted to come say congratulations on taking out you're first general."

"Oh…well thanks." I rubbed my neck and wiped the cold sweat away. "I didn't really do much besides take out his familiars."

"That's not true." Athena shook her head at my comment. "From what Adrian told me, the general would have gotten away if you didn't find him and stop him."

"I guess." I still didn't feel all that crucial. "Froid was pretty much beaten at that point and the stuff I had to do just to stop his familiars made me look more stupid than anything."

"Really? How so?"

"Well, there was this huge python that shot purple smoke that I killed." Athena nodded

"Yes Adrian told me about the Basilisk you fought." I blinked

"Wait a Basilisk? But how come it didn't kill me with its gaze?"

"Basilisk can kill ordinary mortals with a look but not anyone with magical protection and definitely not someone like you with your sheer _Chi_ reserves."

'Huh…ridiculous amount of _Chi_ for the win.' I mentally did a fist pump. "Anyway, I jumped into its stomach and cut it from the inside." It was Athena's turn to blink.

"…Willingly?"

"Yes willingly. You're the second person to ask me that and I know it was a stupid idea but it was all I got!" I tried to defending myself but that just amused the Goddess of War more than anything.

"You had no other option?"

"Not in that moment, no." I shook my head and sighed. "Most of my attacks couldn't get through its thick scales and the one that did only did so much damage. Times like that make me wish I had a teacher that can teach me _Chi_ techniques and stuff." Melissa's _Chi Arts_ (even the basic ones) heavily revolve around her heritage as a Shadow Leopard so it wouldn't help me all that much.

"I'll teach you." I snorted

"Yeah, that would be grea-" My neck snapped to Athena and she was looking at me with honest eyes. "R-really?" She nodded.

"I was taught how to use _Chi_ when I went on a pilgrimage with Ares and Aphrodite. I can teach you a thing or two." I knew that already but I didn't dare ask for her help since you know, she's the Goddess of War and Wisdom.

"D-don't you have responsibilities to take care of?" She quirked a brow at my question.

"Pierce, what do you think us God's do in our free time?"

"Uhhhhh, listen to your subject's prayers and look pretty?" Athena laughed at that before nodding.

"Yes, that's pretty much it."

"…Seriously?"

"Yep." Athena shrugged. "We listen, give blessings, and then go on doing what we want for the rest of the day. A God's life is as glamorous as you can imagine just not in the way you'd think."

"…Seriously?" That seemed way too easy. Granted they are literal Gods and Goddesses but come on, is that really it? "What kind of blessings do you give?"

"It depends. I could help a worshiper who's a farmer by increasing his crop yield. I could heal a child that's sick if their faithful enough. I could even help a warrior who has talent and help them reach their goals easier by giving growth blessings. Divine power is even more versatile then a Devil's powers and you could do many miraculous things with it."

'Wow, that's really handy.' With power like that it seems fair that they get so much free time after helping worshipers. 'Then again, it's not like I can or want to change anything about that.' Athena abruptly turned around and started to walk away. I watched her leave before she stopped and turned back to look at me.

"What are you still standing there for?"

"Huh?"

"I said I'll train you. Let's go." I didn't move as I looked to Athena then my room then back to her. I really wanted to lie in that bed. I didn't get a choice in the matter as she appeared next to me and took my hand, pulling me to the side garden. I would have enjoyed the Goddess's surprisingly soft hand more if I didn't already have a girlfriend. Or for the fact I was getting farther away from that heavenly bed.

'So close but so far…' I internally lamented as I was dragged away.

* * *

**Back to the Present**

I hit the ground once more and the _Chi Sword_ I made exploded into millions of light pieces. Athena's_ Chi Sword_ that I clashed against was perfectly intact.

'This is not what I had in mind when a Goddess said she'll train me.' I paused at that thought. '…That didn't sound right.'

"Again." The drill sergeant like voice of Athena rang out.

"Urghhh…" I groaned as I got up and made another _Chi Sword_. It was created much faster and denser than before. Athena waited with her own up. I rushed at her and we crossed swords. I was only able to parry 8 of her swings before my sword broke and I was hit to the ground. Her _Chi Sword_ only had a small crack that disappeared immediately. It didn't even dim a little.

'Well this is going great.' I got up once more (against my better judgment) and created 2 _Chi Swords_. Athena followed suit. "Let's kick this up a notch." She smiled than rushed forward.

We clashed blades dozens of times. Athena would go for my legs and head. I would go for her arms and stomach (guess who got more hits in.) We continued sword fighting for awhile before my _Chi Sword's_ durability finally gave out and I was hit on both legs. I dropped to my knees in exhaustion. Athena didn't even look winded.

'She's not the Goddess of War for nothing.' I sat down on the grass and breathed in large gulps of glorious air. For the past 3 days, Athena was training me in a number of _Chi Arts_ that she learned from somewhere in Asia. 'Oh yeah fun fact, the being that taught Athena to use _Chi_ was Sun Wukong. Yes, the Monkey King himself helped the Greek Goddess of War and Wisdom to master _Chi_. Apparently, Athena hid Sun Wukong when he pranked the Lord of Hell Enma by painting the outfits of all his judges' bright green and putting a supernatural laxative into Enma's favorite wine. Even for a God like the Lord of Hell, the laxative made him spend an entire week in the toilet. Boy was he pissed.' Athena laughed retelling the story and I would have too if she wasn't kic- training me while doing so. She walked over to me and looked down as I took a breather.

"You're improving fast." Athena smiled proudly and the way the sun hit the side of her breathtaking face made me stare.

"Beautiful…" I blinked and rubbed my forehead. "Sorry…that must be the concussion talking."

Athena tilted her head. "You need a concussion to think I'm beautiful?"

"Wha-no! I-I mean…" I tried to save the situation but Athena just laughed at my nervousness.

"I'm kidding Pierce. I'm just bantering with you." I sighed in relief and Athena seemed amused by that. "You're a very odd man."

"…I've been getting that a lot lately. Why do you think that?"

"You're just full of contradictions." Athena shrugged. "Sometimes you're mature, other times you can be quite childish, and many more times you just say things that make no sense but you have confidence when saying them."

"…You got all that just by training with me for 3 days?" She nodded. "…Well holy shit." I was impressed.

"Like that." Athena pointed at me. "Most people would be uncomfortable with how well I analyze them but you sound more impressed then anything. You know that's weird right?"

"Eh, I like to think I'm unique." I stood up and patted myself down. "Again?" I activated _Chi Skin_. Athena quirked a brow before putting her hands up and rushing at me.

What was _Chi Skin_? It's basically what it sounds like, a skin thin layer of _Chi_ that gives about half the physical boost _Touki_ does with even more concentration needed to keep it up. Yeah, on paper it sucks but it's more of a training tool in the beginning since in battle it's very difficult to divide your attention to keep up _Chi Skin_ and fight. But that's why Athena taught me it; _Chi Skin_ is a perfect exercise when it comes to training _Chi _control. Also, the rate that I recover my _Chi_ is faster than the rate I lose it using _Chi Skin_. If I practice enough times, it's possible for _Chi Skin_ to be up 24/7 even when I sleep. Who's going to say no to that?

The second thing we were training was _Chi Constructs._ I would make weapons out of _Chi_ like swords, spears, maces, etc. and I would clash against Athena's _Chi Constructs_. The past 3 days was mainly focused on this as every time they broke the next one would be just a bit stronger. Athena said the best motivator was pain as you experience it once, you won't want to experience it again (and I think the hits to my head were catching up with me because that actually made sense).

The last _Chi Art_ she showed me was _Chi Burst_. It was a simple technique where you channel an indeterminate amount of _Chi_ to the bottom of your feet and shoot it out, giving you a short burst of speed. In long distance running, reinforcing your legs with _Chi_ is the better option but in a fight in close corridors, _Chi Burst_ will allow you to zip around the battlefield real fast. She stopped with these 3 because learning too many at once was counterproductive. We finished training for the day as I laid on the grass, my _Chi_ healing my bruised body. Athena sat next to me and read a book.

'I wonder where I should go with Melissa tomorrow.' The group has made regular visits all over the world of Olympus and I found out that the Greek Heaven was as large as Earth. There were many colonies of people that lived in this world (every building and structure fit the Greek setting to a t) and we even had Apollon give us tours of places he likes to visit from time to time. 'I also wonder how Zeth keeps track of where every God is in Olympus.' The Monster God supposedly had an eye on all the Greek Gods and as long as they don't leave the world of Olympus he won't release the Titans. 'I thought they couldn't leave the mountain but I guess he meant the dimension as a whole.'

"Hey Athena."

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She didn't look up as she flipped a page.

"Why haven't I heard anyone talk about Hades?" Athena's body went rigid and she looked up from her book. Her eyes were narrowed.

"Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. I mean I've met Zeus, Ares, Poseidon (cool guy), Hera, Apollon, Aphrodite, but no one has ever mentioned Hades. Is Zeth also watching him?" Athena stayed silent for a second before answering.

"My uncle wants nothing to do with this war and Zeth knows that so he's left Hades alone for the most part. It also helps that Hades is as strong as Zeus." Athena gave a wry smile towards her uncle's attitude before returning to her book. I frowned at that tidbit.

'Hold the phone, as strong as Zeus?' I gained a thoughtful expression. 'What does that mean? Does Hades become one of the Top 10 Strongest Beings in the World by the start of canon? Or will he reach it in another couple of years? Urghhhhh I hate making sense of time lines. There no definite answer besides waiting it out…' It could also mean that other beings that are weaker or dead in canon aren't yet. 'Like Balor, or Fenrir (full strength), Rizevim is definitely out there, and then there's Typhon…Typhon…' My eyes widened so much it actually hurt and I jumped up, scaring Athena a little. 'Motherfucker I forgot about Typhon! How the fuck did I forget about that battle crazy monster king!' I started visibly sweating. 'Nope, no way, not happening! The job to kill Zeth is hard enough, how the hell are we going to take down that immensely powerful mother-'

"Pierce?" I snapped to Athena who was looking at me in worry. "Are…are you okay?" I blinked and took a breather to calm myself. Once calm, I stared Athena in the eyes.

"Athena, where's Typhon?" She gained a look of realization before smirking.

"Is that what you were freaking out about?" I nodded. "Well don't worry; he's not on Zeth's side."

"Really? Why not?" Zeth was the God of Monsters; it would make sense for Typhon to join him in making Olympus a monster kingdom.

"Cause Typhon said, and I'm quoting him here, "I already fought the Olympians. It was fun but I want to go out and find even stronger opponents. Besides running a monster kingdom sounds like too much work." Then he went somewhere East to train with a black dragon, whatever that means." I let that information soak in.

'…So Balor is dead? Since Crom is free and training…' That was the first thing that came to my mind. "So I don't have to worry about facing Typhon?" I sighed in relief once Athena nodded.

"Well I think that's enough for today." She stood up and stretched her arms (I tried my best not to stare). "Tomorrow is a day off so you don't need to come here."

"Hallelujah."

Athena smiled and started walking away, leaving the book she was reading on the ground. I picked it up and called out for her.

"Hey Athena, you forgot your-" I looked down at the book and froze as the cover was a man and a woman in a very suggestive pose. "Is this?" Then the book was gone. I blinked and closed my hand. Yep, it was gone. I looked up at Athena who was smiling at me.

"What is it Pierce?" She tilted her head innocently. I stared at her then back down at me hand.

"You're book was jus-"

"What book?" Athena interrupted me.

"T-the book that was just in m-"

"I don't see a book." The Goddess of War was playing dumb till the end. I narrowed my eyes.

"Athena was that a-"

"Well, it's getting late. I'll see you later Pierce." Then she walked away, reached the door, and turned the corner. All in 2 seconds. I stayed in the same position for a good minute when the reality of what I just found out hit me in the face. The Greek Goddess of War and Wisdom, One of the Virgin Goddesses , and the Daughter of Zeus…likes to read smut?

'Heh…DxD…right.' I nodded to no one and made my way back to my room for some shut eye. 'I guess I shouldn't be so surprised, I mean there is that old godly pervert.'

* * *

**Same Time, Asgard**

"My Lord…are you alright?" Mimir asked when he saw his king sitting in his throne completely silent. He was looking out the window into the fields of Asgard. 'He looks like he's thinking of something important.' The old man with the monocle didn't answer until much later.

"Mimir…our time is almost upon us…"

"…What?" The severed head was even more confused. 'Is he talking about Ragnarok?'

"Our time Mimir! I could feel it and its growing stronger everyday! It may take years, and there will be opposition but the time will come where the world will behold greatness!" The elder God King rose to his feet, a face of determination only seen in his younger years appeared. Mimir would have honestly been emotional and moved by his king's drive…that is, if Odin didn't have that very lecherous look on his face. It also didn't help that the window he was looking out of put his gaze right where the Valkyries do their daily run in tight training attire (guess who made that design).

'…I want my other eye back.' Mimir sighed and rolled his head to the side. The severed head had to listen to his king's perverted giggles whenever the Valkyries did a lap. 'This is just a phase; He'll grow out of it…right?'

Poor Mimir had no idea.

* * *

**Top of Olympus, Dining Room**

"Where's Artemis!?" A beautiful woman slammed her hands down on the table Aphrodite was having dinner. The Goddess of Beauty looked up to see her fellow Goddess Demeter, who was very angry. Demeter was a tall woman with large green eyes, an oval face, soft white skin, and a very gorgeous figure. She also had platinum blonde hair. Key word being had as her hair was now a bright neon purple.

'That's actually a very nice color on her now that I get a closer look.' Aphrodite touched some of Demeter's hair before her hand was slapped away. "I don't know where she is."

"Bullshit!" Demeter didn't believe her. "You're always with Artemis whenever she does one of her goddamn pranks!" Aphrodite shrugged.

"I tag along sure, but I mainly watch. It's too much trouble actually helping. She runs off after doing whatever prank she wants." The Goddess of Agriculture stared Aphrodite down before cursing and walking out the dining hall. She was on a mission to hunt down Artemis and get her back for this.

When Demeter was around the corner and down the hall, Aphrodite looked to her left at empty air. "Seriously? Purple hair is the best you got?" The air distorted and Artemis appeared a second later, she did not look proud.

"I know." She sighed and her shoulders slumped. "It was the best I could do on short notice. I had to get her back quick; I mean who even makes undetectable itching powder and puts it in someone's underwear?! I was scratching and cleaning myself for days and I didn't even know why!"

"…You wear underwear?" Artemis glared at Aphrodite.

"That's real funny coming from you!" The Goddess of Beauty blinked then shrugged.

"Touché." She continued eating her lobster tail. "Still, if purple hair is all you got then-" Another slam was heard as they both looked and found Athena sitting on a chair next to them, her face flat on the table. Aphrodite and Artemis looked at each then back to Athena.

"Umm, Athena?" Aphrodite tested the waters.

"Hmmm?" A groan of acknowledgment was all she got.

"Are you okay?"

"Hmhnm."

"Then what happened?"

"…"

"…Did someone find you're book again?"

"Hrnnnn…"

Aphrodite shook her head in exhaustion. "Oh Athena." She patted the Goddess of War's back. "I told you time and time again." She gained a hard look of disappointment. "You need to stop taking that trash smut Amaterasu gives you and get the real good stuff! Show some class! I personally recommend-"

"It's not that!" Athena threw her arms up in exasperation and her fellow Goddesses' laughed at her reaction.

"So what's the problem then?" Aphrodite continued eating and slapped Artemis' hand away when she tried taking some. Athena sighed.

"It's nothing really it's just…I have a new student and he found it and now he probably thinks I'm some perverted Goddess who spends all day thinking about indecent things and probably only taught him to fight so I could get all grabby but it's not like that but he might think it is and now I have to find a way for it not to be weird but that might never happen and now I might need to-" Athena was swiftly hit on the head by Aphrodite. She rubbed the place that was hit and looked at her fellow Goddess. "W-why did you hit me?" Aphrodite shrugged.

"You were spiraling again." She went back to eating. "Don't over think it. If he asks about it, explain. If he doesn't, explain anyway. We don't live half as long as we do without a good sense of humor and an appreciation for the opposite or both sexes. There's nothing wrong about it." Athena nodded along, finding wisdom in her advice.

"I'll do that."

"Good. Who are you teaching anyway? You're Emissary?"

"Actually, it's a member of his group. His name is Pierce." Aphrodite stopped at that and looked up.

"Pierce?"

"Yes. Do you know him?"

"Average height, shaggy hair, brown eyes, a very nice body?" Athena deadpanned at the last one.

"Uh yeah, I guess. He's a _Chi_ user and he's pretty good too. How do you know him?"

"Artemis wanted to prank him…

"I didn't do it though!" Artemis defended at the look Athena gave her

…and when Pierce started making _Chi Constructs_ I helped him out. How long do you plan on training him?"

"Until my Emissary leaves to attack their next target. Speaking of, how did it go with your Emissary? Did they take out their General?"

"Urghhhhh…" Groans of frustration came from both Artemis and Aphrodite.

"Oh…sorry." Now Athena felt bad for asking. "Are they dead?"

"That's the beauty of it. We have no idea." That confused the Goddess of War

"How can you guys not know? If they are dead then they're blessings go away and you can feel that."

"We know that Athena." Artemis rubbed her forehead. "But no matter how hard we try to sense the blessings, we can't seem to reach them."

"Who was the General they were going after?"

After Artemis and Aphrodite told Athena the General's name, she gained a thoughtful expression.

"I guess I know which General my Emissary is going after next."

"Are you sure?" Aphrodite furrowed her brows. "Not trying to undermine them or anything, but are you sure they're rea-"

"Artemis!" They turned and saw a very pissed off Demeter. The Goddess of Hunting jumped out her seat and ran out the dining hall with Demeter chasing after her with a vengeance. Aphrodite and Athena watched them run away with their godly speed.

"Anyway." Aphrodite turned back to Athena. "Just make sure they don't do anything overly reckless. My Emissary is lost to me because of that now."

"I'll be sure to tell them."

Athena got up, said goodbye to Aphrodite, and walked to her Emissaries lodging. Knocking on his door, Adrian came out and was a little shocked before bowing.

"Lady Athena." She gave a wry smile to his formality

"I told you that you can just call me Athena, Adrian." He shook his head saying how it is disrespectful since her status is far above "us humans" (if you didn't know Adrian you would think he said that in spite but that was really how he felt). 'Then what do you call Pierce?' Athena snorted and walked into Adrian's room. It was Spartan and basic, everything in the room had a purpose to help Adrian relax. Athena had hoped that Adrian would add some semblance of personality to the room but it was the same as last time. Adrian pulled up a chair and Athena sat down on it, thanking him.

"It's nothing. What do you need of me?"

"I have an idea of who you can go after next. Of course, if you didn't already have a plan."

"No Lady Athena, I was actually looking through information on who my team and I can go after." Athena nodded and an information rune appeared in her hand.

"That's good then, here." Adrian took the rune and looked through it. He raised a brow at the end of it. "An Emissary already tried to go after this General? Did they fail?"

"No one knows. That's why you can go after this General or choose another; I won't force you to do anything." Adrian gained a thoughtful expression before nodding.

"We'll take it. I'll update the rest of my team and we'll be on our way."

"Be careful Adrian." Athena warned. "We really don't know what happened to the last Emissary and I don't want you to be in deep trouble because you were over confident. Maybe you can wait till we send a couple of scouts?" Adrian shook his head.

"And if we lose contact with the scouts? We'll be back at square one. It's better to go from the start and I knew the risks a long time ago, so did my team. We'll be careful." Athena stared before smiling.

"Well good luck then. I believe you'll succeed." Adrian couldn't help himself.

"It's not like you can say "you'll probably going to fail"." There was a silence as both Adrian's and Athena's eyes widened. "I-I'm so s-sorr-" Adrian tried to apologize but the Greek Goddess just snorted and laughed out loud. Adrian watched her laugh for a minute before stopping.

"No, no you're right that would be pretty bad." Athena stood up and made for the door. "I'm surprised you had that in you. Well done." Then she left the room.

Adrian stared at the door for 10 seconds before falling back into his bed. One thought came to his mind.

'I've been spending too much time with Pierce.'

* * *

**1 Day Later, Top of Olympus**

"…Do you think if I spit from this height, it'll leave a crater when it lands?" Melissa gained a thoughtful expression at my stupid question.

"Depends. Is it regular spit or are you enhancing it with _Chi_?" My eyes widened.

"That's a thing? You can do that?"

"_Chi_ can be applied to anything as long as it comes from you." Melissa then said in a suggestive tone. "Anything."

My throat became a bit dry when she gave me a sultry look. I tried to play it cool. "R-r-really?" God damn it. Melissa wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a deep kiss. Melissa got more aggressive as she stuck her tongue in my mouth and I naturally responded. We tongue wrestled for a little and I had the upper hand until I felt her move _Chi_ through her mouth to me. Boy was that interesting. It was like my mouths sensitivity sky rocketed and I could actually feel my life force synchronize with her own. By the time we separated we both were blazing red.

"W-wow…" Melissa had no more words.

"Holy shit…" I didn't die a virgin in my last life but man did that kiss top any sex I ever had. "W-what was that?"

"_Bouchujutsu_, Bedroom Method. It's where you share you're life-force with your partner to either heal them or just for the heck of it. But that was my first time doing that and…" She looked down as she contemplated.

"And?" Melissa looked up back at me.

"Can we do it again?"

"…I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that." I motioned to kiss again but we were interrupted by Maven walking in. She quirked a brow at our position.

"Am 'I interrupting something?" I deadpanned at the question.

"Actually-"

"Well too bad, let's go. Adrian has our next target." Melissa ran ahead to the meeting location as a blushed covered her face. My shoulders slumped before following.

"Thanks for that…" I tried to sound as sarcastic as possible while walking with Maven. She was oddly silent as we made our way.

"…So you and Melissa huh?" I furrowed my brows.

"Yeah, what about it?" She shrugged.

"Nothing, just want to remind you that she is a Shadow Leopard."

"…Oh Maven, I thought you were better than that." She tilted her head, not following. "I thought you were friends but to discriminate just because she's a Yokai? I got to say I'm not impress-" I didn't get to finish my joke as I was bonked over the head with Maven's staff. Her face was a mix between rage and embarrassment.

"That's not what I meant asshole!" Maven took a deep breath before speaking. "Shadow Leopards are renowned for being traditional and are very protective of their own."

"So what? Is she in an arranged marriage or something?" I really hope not, I don't mind a good cliché (obviously) but not arranged marriages. 'I'll still kick ass, take names, and steal the dame if it comes down to it but I really want to avoid pulling an Issei.' Maven shook her head.

"They're traditional in the way where they don't decide who you marry but the elders still heavily influence you're final choice. They also don't like those weak or weak of mind." I snorted at that.

"Well good thing I have strength in spades!" Yes, I know how douchey that sounded. "And hey who knows? I may just win them over with my vibrant personality!" Maven stared at me for a second before placing a hand on my shoulder and nodding.

"Train hard."

"Hey!"

We both chuckled at that and reached the meeting hall. Maven stopped me before heading in.

"Look, the reason I told you that is so you can be ready." Maven paused before blushing. "I-I don't want to see you g-get hurt." We stood in silence as mock tears started flowing.

"Ah Maven, I knew you cared! Come here and bring it in!" I dodged her staff this time and opened the door to the meeting hall. Everyone was here. Maven and I took a seat next to Melissa while Adrian stood up.

"Since everyone's finally here, we can start." He put a rune on the table and an image of the next general appeared like a hologram (Froid's was the same). The General who appeared was a very beautiful Japanese woman. She had black hair done in a hime-style, black eyes, a high nose, and was wearing an expensive royal purple kimono. The woman's image was only from the waist up and she looked just like a Japanese princess.

"This is Lady Shiruku, a Great Yokai and the Jorogumo." We all blinked at that as I raised my hand. "…Pierce, you don't need to raise your hand to speak."

"Oh right, sorry. When you mean the Jorogumo do you mean the first legendary trickster spider that lures in men to feed on them?" After spending so much time with Melissa I've learned a thing or two about Yokai. One of those things is that all Yokai are part of a larger clan and with the ridiculous life spans in DxD, many progenitors are still around. They all have "the" in their title since they are the first but some aren't involved with their clan and are doing completely different things.

"Yes, the original Jorogumo." He pressed on the rune and a whole body view was showed. We saw a massive, hairy spider attached to the bottom of Lady Shiruku's torso.

'…That is no lady.' I tapped Aindrea on the shoulder. "That's all you buddy." I tilted my head to dodge the spear thrust (it wasn't the blunt side either).

"Lady Shiruku has made her base in Hakone Japan and has been there for number of years. She'll have a better lay of the land and she's widely known for her supernatural seduction powers."

"Are the Shinto Gods going to be okay with us going into their territories?"

"Lady Shiruku hasn't attacked anyone under the Shinto pantheon and as long as we don't overstep our boundaries they won't bother us." Aindrea answered Vargas' question.

"Anything we should watch out for beside the man eating she witch?" I asked and Adrian pressed the rune again. The same katana wielding woman I saw back in the assembly appeared.

"This is the Emissary of Aphrodite, Artemis, and Ares. She went after Lady Shiruku but hasn't been heard from since. No one knows if she's dead or captured, it's not the priority but if you see her try to make contact." I frowned at that.

"Well isn't it obvious what happened then?"

"What do you mean?" I pointed back to Lady Shiruku

"Well if she's known for seducing people and putting them under her (figuratively and literally), then the Emissary is probably brain washed by now." Adrian shook his head.

"That would make sense but Aphrodite's blessing makes it's near impossible to put her Emissary under illusions or mind control."

"Then what can we do to protect ourselves from that?" Adrian smiled and pointed towards me.

"You."

"…Come again?"

"Well, you and Melissa. Lady Shiruku's seduction techniques are Chi and Senjutsu based, both of you can sense when she's trying to seduce anyone of us and stop it."

"Hm. Hm. Fascinating." I nodded my sagely. "Though is one small problem…I don't know any Senjutsu!" Contrary to very, _very_ popular belief Chi and Senjutsu are NOT the same thing. Chi is using your own body's reserves and doing a multitude of superhuman techniques. Senjutsu on the other hand is when you take in the world's nature-chi and use it for even crazier arts. It's like fighting with your fist at first then you pick up a hard stick lying around (shitty analogy I know, but you get what I mean). Melissa shook her head at me outburst.

"You'll still be able to sense her invading influence and expel it. You don't need to know any Senjutsu." I blinked at her explanation and nodded.

"Well alright than." I stood up and looked around. "Let's go squash a spider shall we?" The smiles on their faces when I said that probably should have made me question my comrade's sanitys.

'Is there a sane person left in DxD?'

* * *

**Same Time, Under the Waters of Asgard**

"Hmmm?" A large green dragon raised its head and looked out in a random direction. 'Is someone talking about me?' The dragon pondered before falling back to sleep, thinking nothing of it.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

'…Why am 'I suddenly worried about the answer?' I sweated as I walked with the rest of the team to the teleportation portal. The strange feeling didn't go away until much later.

* * *

And done. Pierce got a trainer and the second General is picked. I never liked how in DxD, Senjutsu and Chi were considered the same thing. Even on paper there is a very clear difference but I fixed that in my story. Rambling aside, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	14. Chapter 13

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**EyeofSoren**: No, hell no! I like unique things too, but that's just dark! I as a man would love a harem (I'm shallow sue me) and while Pierce isn't in the mentality to get one he will eventually have one. I'm trying my best to make this story unique and I think I'm doing all right, but sorry I ain't going there.

**ReyKingKaiser**: Sure man, I'll go with that thanks! It would make sense with Ajuka's invention of the Evil Pieces if you think about it. With Devil's being able to turn humans into one of them, then the Church's influence would take a hit and the Angels would need to make changes to the corruption inside the Church to survive. As for Loki being evil? Nope, he's still going to be an asshole since in canon he was ready to kill his own father with Fenrir just to speed up Ragnarok. But I will work on Hades.

**King0fP0wers**: Nah, its fine I get it. I never liked how those Naruto crossovers aren't creative with it either and just go with that troupe. As for why my Greek Gods use Chi? It just made sense to me. Chi is life-force and every being that lives can learn to use it. With how long Athena and them has lived, it didn't make sense that they wouldn't have learned to use it at some point. I also added that back story with Sun Wukong to make it more believable because if a master of Chi like him owes you a favor, what else are you going to ask for? They also have their divine powers and they use them but that's something for another day. That's one of the reasons I like DxD so much, there's just so many ways to grow in strength. Chi, Senjutsu, Magic, Evil Pieces, Brave Saints, Sacred Gears (if you're lucky), Godhood/Buddhahood, etc. There's a shit ton of ways if you bothered to look and that's really awesome to me.

* * *

**Chapter 13: An Itsy Bitsy Spider**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I wonder if the people that keep track of copyright visit this page. I own the OCs. Do you like my OCs copyright people?

* * *

**Hakone**

A town rested on the far west side of the Kanagawa Prefecture. It centered on a large lake called Lake Ashi and the number of people that lived here was a little over 1,000. The overall area was more of a park as many houses were spread out but a small town center did exist. Kids and parents walked through the center saying hello to those they knew. Old men played games like Shogi and small carts littered the grounds, selling different things to the people. A board with information on it stood in the center; it either contained the mayor's announcements or the large events happening in the isolated country. It was an ordinary town that hasn't seen anything exciting in a long time.

'You would never image a Great Yokai that likes to enslave/eat her victims is stalking around.' I sat on a bench by a small cart that sold tea. Vargas was haggling with the cart owner and eventually got to 2 cups of green tea for half their price.

"Ugh, selling this subpar tea for such a steep price. What a fraud!" Vargas walked over and handed me a cup before sitting down. Vargas had a real passion for tea and can't stand it when someone makes tea not to his liking.

"You fought with the owner for 10 minutes for this? It's not even that ba-" I stopped once Vargas shot me a look and choose to stay quiet. Trying to argue with Vargas about certain teas is like stopping Melissa from eating too much or stopping Samantha from telling morbid jokes. You just don't. "Anyway, this place is as peaceful as advertised. I haven't a single crazy spider lady or her maidens."

"You guys aren't actually here for that stupid rumor?" We turned our heads to a young man that stopped by us, he was walking his dog.

'...Cute dog.' I lightly scratched behind the ear of the small pet. "Yeah, we're here to see if the rumor had any truth to it. Who are you?" The young man gained a confident smile.

"My name is Yukan! Direct disciple of Priest Sangan! Pleasure to meet you!" Yukan gave a light bow. I gave the young priest a weird look before nodding back.

"It's nice to meet you too. Not to be cold or anything but…why are you talking us?" Yukan gained a bashful look and rubbed the back of his head.

"We don't get a lot of visitors here and I couldn't help myself."

'That explains the stares.' I noticed a long time ago the attention Vargas and I were getting. It wasn't malicious or fearful (I would know) but more curious and guarded. "Well since you're here, I've got to ask. Many men have disappeared on the road and everyone's blaming the Jorogumo. What's that about?" Yukan snorted

"That's just superstitious nonsense." I couldn't help the lopsided grin that appeared on my face.

"Aren't you a priest?"

"T-that's different! I pray to the Gods and they're all blaming some unfounded myth."

'Cause Gods are founded.' Granted, pantheons actually exist here but this boy in front of me doesn't know that by his reaction. "Still, if it isn't the Jorogumo then how do you explain all the disappearances?"

"Lots of men like to test their bravery by climbing through the forest to Mt. Fuji and back, they typically get lost." Yukan picked up his dog. "It happens quite often so I don't understand why the people want to blame a folk tale."

'Careful kid, that folk tale might eat you if she hears you.' The young priest was nice enough but he left to go do his daily prayer shortly after. I turned to Vargas who had a thoughtful expression as he watched Yukan walk away.

"Well don't keep me in suspense."

"What do you mean?" I deadpanned.

"Unless I got your sexual orientation wrong…" The spirit inheritor snorted. "I guessed as much, so you want to explain the face." Vargas looked in the direction where Yukan left before facing me.

"Have you heard of the Priest Mangan?"

"Nope." It was Vargas turn to deadpan.

"…I can never understand how you know so much about the supernatural world and yet know so little." He shook his head and continued. "Priest Mangan lived here a couple decades ago; the Lord of the area rewarded him permission to set up a new shrine after the one at the summit of Komagatake was destroyed by natural forces."

"What did he do?" I asked while drinking my tea.

"He exorcised a nine headed dragon." I spit the tea all over his pant leg.

I ignored Vargas' "hey!" and looked up at him. "D-do you mean…" Hydra's, like the legend portrays, can almost instantly grow back any head that is cut, ripped, or crushed off. Their regeneration ability is real but it's a myth that they can grow back an infinite amount of heads. The maximum amount they can grow back is eight. There was only ever one nine headed dragon that actually existed.

"The true Yamata no Orochi was killed by Susanoo." Vargas said as he wiped the stain. "I don't know what it was, but I do know that Priest Mangan was a real Taoist spell master. Priest Sangan should be his descendant."

'…What is it with Hero descendants and their unoriginal names?' I shook my head remembering Cao Cao and Siegfried. "Well, whoever Mangan was I hope he did a good job because I came to kill a crazy spider lady. Not a Yamata no Orochi reject."

"I'll drink to that." We clicked cups (though mine was already empty) and after Vargas was done, we made for the hideout in Hakone. It was a small wooden house but thanks to Maven's space magic it was much bigger on the inside and with Samantha's protection arrays a mortal army would have trouble getting in here. They couldn't do this in Constantinople because Froid was a more magic based General; Shiruku mainly relies on her _Chi_ and _Senjutsu_.

'I wouldn't doubt it if she already knows we're here.' Lady Shriuku is even weaker then Froid all things considered as her abilities are more meant for stealth and ensnarement. My _Chi Vision_ is already considered a high level _Chi_ technique with a large range and for a Great Yokai like her? I wouldn't be surprised if she found us the moment we arrived. That may seem like a bad thing but that just means she'll attack us sooner than later and we won't need to go looking for her. I sat on the porch of the house, overlooking the small town. I smiled once I saw two kids carrying a chicken while being chased by a store owner.

'I wonder how mom and dad are doing.' I sighed remembering my parents, hoping that they were alright and healthy. 'Maybe mom's forgiven dad by now…and maybe Kokabiel will stop being all war crazy but let's be realistic here.' Adrian came up and stood next to me.

"It's quite something huh?" He was looking at the huge mountain in the distance.

"Yeah, what are the odds Shiruku made her base there?" Mt Fuji was a massive natural wonder. It couldn't compare to Mount Olympus but it had its own charm because the mountain wasn't created with magic or by some other supernatural creature (Maven told me so).

"Pretty high." Adrian nodded. "Enough distance so people that go there can't call for help and large enough inside to house whoever she captures. Have you found anything yet?"

"No." I shook my head. "I tried looking for _Chi_ signatures but there aren't any spider Yokai signatures anywhere. I also don't remember the aura of that Emissary so I can't track her. Has Melissa found anything?" Adrian shook his head.

"She hasn't found anything either. But I wouldn't worry too much, Shiruku will slip up and we'll find her. She's known for being particularly greedy."

We walked back inside and everyone was ready to go. The plan was quite simple actually; bait Shiruku with what she wants, unique beings. Melissa was to go with Vargas, the spirit inheritor of Galahad while I went with Samantha, a Sacred Gear user and spell expert. Melissa already put _Youjutsu _spells on everyone, the moment foreign _Chi_ enters their system we will know. But either I or Melissa still needs to be there to push out the _Chi_. Maven, Adrian, and Aindrea will be waiting in the hideout.

"So how obvious should we be?"

"Not too obvious. Just walk around, see the sights and honestly have a good time. Lady Shiruku's greedy but she isn't dumb. She's also supposed to be very patient so this may take awhile." We nodded before walking out of the hideout. Melissa gave me a quick kiss for good luck and we parted ways.

* * *

**3 Hours Later, Town Center**

"So you're teacher was what? Contracted with the Angels to learn all that magic?" Samantha shook her head.

"No, she summoned an Angel and they made a deal that she had to serve under them in exchange for the magical knowledge." She ate another sushi roll. "My teacher worked under the Great Seraph Raphael and after her years of service was over; she left to explore the world."

"…That sounds a lot like something a devil would do." I mumbled that as I ate.

"What was that?"

"It's nothing." I put down my chop sticks and looked around. We did as Adrian told us; we walked around and enjoyed the sights. There wasn't much to do but I was originally from a quiet town so this didn't bother me all that much. Samantha also hasn't said a complaint. The people were friendly enough and after showing us how, we even got to play a little Karuta with the old men.

'I still say they cheated.' Crazy thing is that even when I used _Chi_ to enhance my senses, I still couldn't find out how they did it. 'Dumb anime logic bullshit. Old men beating people with superpowers at a reflex game makes no…' My train of thought ended there as my gaze stopped on a woman sitting on the other side of the street. She was a very beautiful woman. Shiny black hair, slim waist, sensual curves, and she was giving me a smile that made my heart rate spike. I felt my body heating up from her look and I couldn't help myself. She was gorgeous. She was heavenly. **She was perfe-**

'Hold the phone.' I frowned as my heart beat slowed and my mind cleared. 'Heavenly? Sensual? When the hell do I ever describe a woman like that?' Then I felt the problem. _Chi_ that wasn't mine entered my body and was doing something to my brain, I quickly expelled it. The woman seemed shocked by this and I turned to look at Samantha. Her eyes were dazed and I could feel the _Youjutsu_ spell Melissa put on her was sending out an alarm. I quickly placed my hand on her shoulder and sent my own _Chi_ inside her, expelling the woman's.

"W-what happened!?" Samantha came to and I looked over to where the woman was sitting. She wasn't there anymore. I smiled.

"We got a bite." I didn't bother activating _Chi Vision_ since she was in my passive range and I didn't sense her. Her _Chi_ signature however…

"Let's go!" I quickly followed the trail with Samantha running a bit behind. We ran through the town center and into the forest. There were two reasons why she didn't cover her _Chi_ trail; either she couldn't while running away or…

"Pierce…" We both stopped once we were far in the forest, the sky turned a reddish purple.

"I know." I stared at the woman we were chasing sitting on top of a tree. She had a victorious smile on her face. 'Right…Battle Barrier, I keep forgetting about them.'

"I thought they would learn after the first group but hey, I'm not complaining." The woman gave a really sadistic smile and licked her lips. "I just love when toys come here of their own choosing."

'…What a waste of a good face.' I internally sighed. "The first group?" She snorted

"Like you don't know." She stood up on the branch. "Shame my charms didn't work. You're just my type, I loved breaking men lik-" She tilted her head, dodging the arrow I shot at her head. Her face darkened as a cut appeared on her cheek. "Seriously?"

I shrugged as I held the crossbow. "You weren't saying anything useful so I attacked. It's kind of a rule I have." I was about to shoot again before the woman lifted her hand and I noticed over a dozen large aura's dig out of the ground. Large, man sized spiders appeared and surrounded us, they all hissed.

'…Yeah, I saw that coming.' I wasn't really bothered by the large, hairy, man eating spiders oddly enough. When you can shatter concrete with your bare hands and outrun a cheetah; spiders don't really give you the creeps anymore.

"…They're kind of cute." Samantha on the other hand…

"Please don't keep one as a pet." I sighed as the woman and even the spiders looked at the healer strangely. Not wasting this moment I shot 3 more arrows at the woman but she jumped out of the way. The spiders rushed at us and I took out my sword, slicing the one in front clean in half. Spider guts fell to the ground and on my clothes.

"Oh that's just gross!" I sliced apart another 2 as they came from my left and grabbed Samantha's waist as I jumped in the air, avoiding the dog (spider?) pile. I landed on a tree and watched as the spider started climbing. I made 3 _Chi Spears _and threw them down; they all pierced through a spider. "Are you going to be alright up here?" I got a quick nod as she put a yellow barrier around herself. Seeing she was secure, I activated _Touki_ and jumped back to the ground squashing a spider to death.

"Let's get to it!" I quickly got to work cutting and punching every spider that came at me to bits. With _Chi Burst_ they couldn't hit me and my _Chi_ coated sword made it like I was cutting through butter. Very nasty, green butter. 'Urghhh…I hate my brain sometimes.' Another spider tried to jump on my back but I grabbed one of its limbs and threw it towards its siblings. I lifted my sword and used _Sword Fury_ (that's what I named the meter long blade of _Chi_), slamming it down on the group of spiders. A massive boom was caused on impact and large cloud of dust picked up. When the dust cleared all that was left was a crater dozens of meters wide and one foot deep.

"Holy shit…" I kicked behind me as a spider try take advantage of my stupor. I only used _Sword Fury_ inside the Basilisk and to stop Froid from escaping. I had no idea its destructive capability was that high and that was before training with Athena. 'Then again, that move took a large chunk of my _Chi_.' I spinned in place, cutting all the spiders that surrounded me and created _Chi Swords_ that flew towards the remaining spiders, killing them all. Sensing no more in the area I looked over to where the woman was last standing. She wasn't there, big surprise.

'She also didn't leave a _Chi_ signature to follow this time.' I walked pass the mountain of spider corpses and stood next to the tree Samantha was perched on. I outstretched my arms. Giving a quick "wee" she jumped down and I caught her in my arms. Samantha thanked me before standing and looking around at the scene of the slaughter.

"Do you think that was a probe or something?" I shrugged

"They probably did this to test our strength. I should have attacked her from the start." I sighed at my blunder before we heard a caw. The shadow crow that Samantha took with her from the Shadow Realm landed on her shoulder. There was an arrow in its beak.

"What you got there James?" Samantha took the arrow from her pet and found there was blood on the tip. It was the arrow that grazed the woman. We both looked at each other.

"You wouldn't happen to know any spells that deal with blood do you?"

"No." Samantha shook her head before smiling. "But our resident genius mage might." We both grinned and made our way back to the hideout, the Battle Barrier long gone.

* * *

**Hideout in Hakone**

The team was in the living room sitting around a large pile of magic books and scrolls Maven took out. She didn't know any blood spells by heart but there were some in her space ring that may help. I was a little concerned with Maven's definition of "some" when she took out the mountain of literature. I was holding a magic scroll and looking it over.

"Hm? Hmhmn. Yep." I lifted my head from the scroll. "I have no idea what I'm looking at." The scroll was snatched from my hands by Maven.

"Then stop picking them up and go do something else." I left to the corner of shame (basically the couch where Melissa, Vargas, and Adrian were sitting) and sat down. Maven, Aindrea, and Samantha were the real magic users on the team; everyone else either used their natural abilities or _Chi_. I still had the translation necklace Maven gave me but that's only for regular languages. I can't read ancient text or **Magical Languages**. **Magical Languages** are basically what Magicians learn to read and need to actually understand to use magic. Every magic circle that exists be they Devil, Angel, God, Yokai, etc. contains a **Magical Language**. There's no artifact that can by pass that requirement and you also need learn to do calculations (if you're a human magician). I could have asked Maven to teach me but the 4 days we were on Olympus was spent training with Athena. I honestly forgot too and I already made plans to get lessons from Maven once we deal with Lady Shiruku.

'Oh look how confident I 'am, I'm already planning what to do after this.' I shook my head as laid back. 'I never understood why protagonists limit themselves when there are other avenues for strength.' I for one am not prideful enough to solely relay on _Chi_ and _Senjutsu_ (when I learn some). I'll take Magic, Holy/Demon Swords; steal a powerful Sacred Gear if the owner is a real asshole, etc. If the opportunity presents itself I will take it, not because I'm power hungry but in this crazy world having more strength is always better.

"Found something!" Maven perked up while holding a scroll. She placed it on the table and we all came to take a look. Samantha nodded her head after reading a little of it.

"Yeah, this could work."

"What is it?" Vargas asked for us non-magic users

"It's a blood rune design." Maven took out a small round rune and smeared the blood from the arrow tip on it. She said a couple of words that I didn't understand and the rune glowed. A pattern slowly appeared and she placed it back on the table. "As long as the original owner of the blood gets close then the rune will start pulsing." I lifted a brow at that.

"After what happened, I doubt she'll be easy to find again."

"Well until something comes along this is the best we got." Adrian picked up the rune and observed it before putting it back down. "Can you make more?"

"No, there was only enough blood for one rune."

"Then we'll take turns patrolling with it. I hope when we find her, she'll know where Lady Shiruku is." I snorted.

"Sadistic hot lady that uses giant spiders to attack us? Yeah, I'll think she'll have an idea." We all chuckled at that and turned in for the day. Melissa grabbed my hand and gave me cheeky smirk.

"You thought she was attractive?" I deadpanned

"Why yes, having man eating spiders that want to kill me are what I look for in a woman." She chuckled before pressing her large breasts against my chest and giving me a deep kiss. We stayed like this for awhile and half way through she even used _Bouchujutsu._ When we separated we were both breathing heavily. "W-what was that for?" I enjoyed it very much and definitely wanted to do it again but I was curious where that came from. She just gave me a smile before lightly pecking me and backing away.

"Just wanted to do it. Good night." Melissa retreated to her room and I swear she added a small sway to her hips as she closed the door.

'…Thank you Ichiei!' I did a small fist pump and thanked the creator of DxD for making every supernatural woman so damn hot. We haven't gone beyond kissing, dates, and a bit of foreplay because of how much time we've been together and other things taking priority (*cough* crazy monster god *cough*). But she's been getting more and more aggressive, in the good way. I had a silly smile as I entered my room and went to bed.

* * *

**2 Days Later, Town Center**

"God damn it! I know you're cheating you shitty old man!" I was over it as this point. This was the fifth game of Karuta and I lost again. 'But how!? I'm actually cheating with _Chi_ and I still can't win!' It was absurd. All I got were laughs as everyone watched my outburst. Old man Samisen just smirked as he shuffled the cards and asked if I wanted a rematch. "Like hell you old cheater!" I walked over to where Maven was eating ramen and sat down next to her.

"You lost again?" She asked before swallowing some noodles.

"Yes." I grumbled under my breath. "It's ridiculous! But I swear, by the time we're done with Shiruku I'll beat that old geezer, I swear on Ichiei!"

"…Who?" Maven was confused by the name. I chuckled when I thought about it. Ichiei is actually the one that created all of DxD, so it was funny with all the faiths around he doesn't have on-

'...Oh…' My eyes widened as I rubbed my space ring and a paper appeared in my hand. On the top of the paper, all it said was "Bucket List". There were only 2 goals on the paper.

1: Create a Supernatural Mercenary Association

2: Sneak into Biblical Heaven and see if they had a picture of God

I quickly wrote a third goal.

3: Create a religion based around Ichiei Ishibumi

My grin threatened to split my face in two as I laughed like an evil genius. The entire time Maven looked at me like I lost my mind.

"…I really shouldn't have given him that space ring…" She scooted over before going back to eating.

Jokes aside, it's been a slow couple of days. We still haven't got a clue on where Shiruku is and the woman that attacked us was nowhere to be found. Besides enjoying the peaceful town and training, there really wasn't much happ-

'…Right, fictional universe logic. Things are slow because the world's winding up to throw you a very hard curve ball.' Why was I thinking this? Cause the curve ball came in the form of 2 vaguely familiar auras. They both felt like Naizer but without the insect aura, it was instead a reptile's. They suddenly appeared in Hakone and were making their way through the town center.

"Maven." She looked at me with serious eyes.

"Yeah, I felt them too. They direct teleported without a marker. Who are they?"

"Devils." Maven's eyes widened.

I looked in the direction they were coming and Maven followed suit. It was a young woman and an older man. The young woman was short, had light autumn hair, a pretty face and was quite curvy. The older man was tall, had brown hair, a suit and was handsome. They both had slit eyes.

'Well they're subtle.' The younger woman must have felt my gaze as she turned to look at me. She glared for a second in hate before she walked out of sight.

'…I can tell we're going to be great friends!' I sarcastically thought as I looked at Maven. "Should we go say hello?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Maven stood up. "We should group up with everyone else before confronting them." I shrugged at the suggestion and followed her. It was a simple enough plan; meet up with everyone else before talking to the new people. Real simple.

'Well it would be, if they weren't following us.' The moment we got up and made for the hideout, the two Devils started following us. "Maven."

She stopped and turned around. We were in a deserted path and the Devils must have realized they were found as they walked out their hiding spot. The woman was really glaring at us in hatred.

"Can we help yo-"

"Where's my brother?" We both frowned when the woman said that.

"We don't-" The woman didn't let me finish as she closed the distance between us. I crossed my arms to block her punch and a boom was heard as I flew back.

"Pierce!" I smashed through multiple trees and carved a long dirt trail. I quickly rolled to the side as the woman tried to land on me. A crater was left where my head was and I saw the lady's new form. Her limbs became draconic in nature with sharp claws and scales.

"Where is my brother?!"

"Lady, I don't know what you're talking about! How about you cal-"

"Bullshit!" She was on me again and I had to activate _Touki_ to keep up. Funnily enough, the moment I did that she started fighting harder. Every punch I blocked felt like I was being hit with a hammer and more than once did she cut through my _Touki_, leaving bloody marks that burned. I kicked the woman in the stomach, sending her flying back and looked to Maven. She was casting fire spells to meet the other Devil's ice attacks.

"Oh shit!" I ducked the woman's swipe and grabbed her other arm that tried to gut me. I flung over my shoulder and slammed her right into the ground. I leaned back to avoid her kick and when she got up we brawled again. I _Chi Burst_ to dodge her tail sweep (yeah she has tail!) and I kicked in her ribs. She groaned before clawing my chest, right over my old scar and I punched her gut. We went back and forth a lot like this and I finally had it when she nearly clawed my eye out.

"Where is-" I hit her in the face, breaking her nose.

"I heard you the last fucking time!" I kicked her feet from under her and when she was on the ground, I hit her with a _Seismic Fist_ to the gut. A large crater appeared behind her and she spewed out a large amount of blood. She paled immediately and didn't get up, choosing to take a breather. "Are you calm now!?" She looked up at me in anger before her stomach became bloated and her throat enlarged. "What the fu-" My instincts screamed at me to block and I poured all of my _Chi _into _Touki_. Then I saw a blinding, crimson color.

* * *

**Hideout in Hakone**

Melissa played with the small brooch Pierce got her back in Constantinople. She then looked at the bracelet that he got for her after she ate every dish that one restaurant had. Pierce said that had to be new record in her weight class and she deserved a trophy. So he got her a bracelet. Melissa shook her head with a smile at the memory and her boyfriend's excitement.

"Pierce and Maven are in patrol right?" She turned her head to see Adrian walk up to her. Melissa was sitting on the porch.

"Yeah, they left an hour ago. They should still be in the town center."

"You okay?" Adrian asked

"Yeah…why wouldn't I be?" He shrugged

"You had heavy look on her face." Melissa didn't answer him that time and just looked ahead.

"…Adrian?"

"Hm?"

"…Do you really think we have a chance against Zeth?" She remembered Zeus' aura and even now it scared her like nothing else. Going against someone who had the same strength as the God King of Olympus just seemed like suicide. He may be weak now but who really knows how long that will last? Zeth may find a way to restore his strength and then we'll have no chance.

"…I don't know." Adrian crouched next to her. "But we won't know till we try. Humans have done some pretty great things Melissa. So for a Yokai like you this should be easy!" There was silence before Melissa gave a weird smile and placed a hand on Adrian's shoulder.

"You almost had it, keep working on it though." Adrian slumped at that.

"Damn it, how the hell does Pierce make this stuff up on the spot?" Melissa laughed at Adrian's lament. "Are you thinking about him?" Melissa stopped laughing before her face became somber. Adrian frowned at this. "What wrong?"

"It's…it was just so easy before." Melissa looked out in distance. "I knew the risks, I knew what might happen if we fail, and I've come to terms with it. But…"

"But now there's Pierce." Melissa gave a humorless chuckle and shook her head.

"I might never see my parents again, or my clan, or my sister and brothers and I still came along…" God, she sounds horrible when put like that. "But it's when I meet Pierce that I get cold feet…Urghhhh, it makes no sense!" Melissa felt like she was going crazy.

"Love does that." Adrian chuckled at the look of pure bewilderment Melissa had after saying that.

"…I've been with him for a month at most." Adrian just reached for his sword and unhinged the pummel. A wedding ring fell into his palm.

"Love doesn't make sense Melissa." He gave her the wedding ring. "At least, that's what my wife always tells me." Melissa's eyes widened.

"Y-you're married?" She played with the wedding ring before giving it back.

"Yes and what you have may not be love but it's real. So don't think too much on it, just do what feels right to you." Adrian placed the ring back in the pummel of his God made sword and stood up.

Melissa stood in a daze and didn't speak till much later.

"I-" That was all she got out before a massive explosion interrupted her and bright red flames covered a large section of the forest. The blood red flames started to spread and both of them could hear panic in the small town. Everyone else walked out to see what happened.

"Let's go!" Adrian didn't hesitant as he ordered and they all ran towards the flames.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

It was hot. It was hot as hell.

'…Actually, the Underworld isn't as hot as they say it is so that's not right…' An inferno was raging around me and hundreds of meters of land were scorched. I was more exhausted then hurt as pouring all of my _Chi_ into _Touki_ stopped the bulk of the flames. I was on my knees and I looked up to the woman who I was fighting.

"H-h-how!?" Rage boiled inside me.

"How am I not ashes? Because I'm fucking awesome that's how!" I was pissed, but it wasn't at her (okay, maybe some of it). This woman was angry, confused, and sad all at once. Her aura was making that clear as day. She had the speed, strength, and durability to match my own and that flame breathe was something else but that was it. That was all she had. The Devil woman had no form, was attacking in anger making her sloppy, and at any time I could have taken out my sword and loped her head clean off. But I didn't. Because something was wrong here and killing this woman wouldn't give me any answers. I'm not some altruistic hero that's going to redeem every person he fights (cause when I find that spider lady I'm cutting her head clean off). But I'm not going to start killing people that seem more like sad little kids who are mad at something than anything else (even her killing intent was pitiful). I felt water splashed over me and I looked up to Maven casting a water spell, quenching the flames. She looked alright beside her arm being covered in frostbite. When I looked over at her opponent he was knocked out and was covered in a lightning rope. I got up and walked towards me opponent.

"S-stay away!" She tried backing away but I wasn't in the mood to deal with this. I hit her on the temple, knocking her out and carried her over my shoulder.

"Pierce!" I looked over and I saw everyone arrive at the scene. Melissa ran up to me. "Are you alright!?" Her eyes widened with all the claws marks over my body and the small burns.

"Its fine, they're shallow at best. Let's get out of here before the towns people come with pitch forks and torches." No Battle Barrier was put up this time and we had to go before things get hectic. We made our way back to the hideout and the remaining _Chi _I had was enough to heal my injuries, so Samantha only needed to work on Maven's arm.

* * *

1 Hour Later, Hideout in Hakone

"Ssss…" Maven sucked in a breath as Samantha cast a healing spell over her blackened arm. She had to wait for the frost to thaw before she can work on healing it. When it was done, her arm was still a little black from the freezing done to her muscles.

"Damn it, he sure got me." It was worth it to land a winning blow but it still hurt.

"Here." I placed my hands on Maven's arm and sent some of my _Chi _inside(I ate a lot so I recovered pretty fast). My _Chi_ moved in her body and refreshed the pain in her arm. I slowly massaged the arm and after 5 minutes of moaning from Maven, her arm was perfectly fine.

"…Thank you." Her face was blood red and she couldn't meet me in the eye. I laughed.

"Anytime." I got up to join everyone else as they were all staring at our prisoners. Melissa elbowed me when I stood next to her.

"Were you enjoying yourself?" I deadpanned at her smile and knocked her on the head, telling her to focus. "That's rich coming from you!" I couldn't deny that.

"So…" I started. "Who's going to wake them up?" No one moved so I rolled my eyes and crouched down the woman I fought. I tapped her on the cheek.

"Wake up." She wasn't getting up so I tapped her again.

"Wake up." I tapped her a little harder.

"Wake up." I tapped her a little harder than before.

"Wake up." You can see where this is going.

* * *

**3 Minutes Later**

"Wak-" My hand was winded back ready to slap her again but she got up. Her left cheek was bright red and she had a crazy look in her eyes.

"Alright, alright I'm up, I'm up!" She laid back down in exhaustion. I just shrugged.

"I already knew that." There's a clear change in someone's aura when their sleeping and awake. She woke up at my fifth tap and pretended to be unconscious. The Devil woman looked at me shock.

"T-then why didn't you just call me out on it!? Why did you keep slapping me!?"

"I'm petty." I stood up, ignoring her look of pure shock and everyone's look of pity towards her. "Why did you attack us?" Her face became hard before she stayed silent and looked away. "Oh, the silent treatment huh? Well I know just the thing to make you talk. Maven!" She jumped up at that and the mage came over. "Do it."

Maven deadpanned. "…You're an idiot." She waved her hand and a magic circle appeared under the Devil woman. **"****Et ****S****ic ****A****ugendae****."** What was that? It was a strengthening spell that enhances all your senses like how I do with _Chi_. All of the senses (yes, even those). Of course, those with basic magic resistance aren't affected by it but the Devil woman was beaten and exhausted from our fight earlier, she had no demonic energy left. I actually pity her a little now.

I rubbed my space ring and under the cautious eyes of everyone I took out…a long feather. The silence was deafening.

"Pierce…what the hell?" Adrian rubbed his face. He looked tired. I've been causing a lot of mental fatigue to the poor guy since coming on this team. I walked over to the woman, who at this point had not a clue what was going on. She quickly found out.

I tickled her. Obviously (what were you guys expecting?). Oh yeah, do you know what happens to a supernatural creature like say Devils, who are already superior in terms of senses, and enhance them even further?

"HahahahahahahaIgiveIgivehahahahaahpleaseI'lltellyouanythingjustpleasestohahahahahha." She didn't last 4 minutes. I shook my head as I stopped and stood over her heaving, sweaty body.

"Pathetic." It was truly disappointing. "I didn't even get to the nape." I sighed in the wasted chance and everyone just stared at me. Maven turned to Melissa.

"You're boyfriend is very weird." The Shadow Leopard had no argument against that.

After getting her breathe back and looking around, the woman's face went through some very interesting emotions. There was anger, then confusion, followed by realization, and finally ending in embarrassment. Her face lit up like a red glow stick (even more) and she mumbled a faint "shit". I quickly put the pieces together and I deadpanned the hardest I could.

"Oh you have got to be fucking with me." I rubbed my face and stared down at the bashful Devil. "…We're not who you think we are, are we?" She didn't react for a minute until giving a small nod. I sighed.

"Of course." I crouched down to her eye level. "Let's try this again. My name is Pierce, what's your name?" She stared at me with suspicious eyes before speaking.

"Sophia. Sophia Buné." Maven's spoke up in shock.

"A Buné? From the 72 Pillars, the clan of Dragon tamers and masters of Dragonification?" Sophia nodded at Mavens words.

'That explains the claws.' I remember the draconic limbs in the fight. "Why did you attack us?"

"I-I thought you were with her. I thought if I captured you then you would lead me to my brother…I was wrong. I-I'm sorry." Sophia apologized and explained everything. Sophia and her brother were chasing after a Fallen Angel named Yeqon for years. Something happened that caused Yeqon to be exiled from the Grigori and the siblings saw their chance. The last sightings of Yeqon were in this town and that's where they met Lady Shiruku. She attacked them, enslaved her brother and made him beat his sister half to death. She escaped but she couldn't ask her clan to help because they weren't supposed to be out here. So she came back with her retainer Damian (the older man) and tried to save her brother. The reason she attacked us was because of me. My _Chi_ is immense and she mistook me for a Yokai that worked under Shiruku.

"…Is me being able to use _Chi_ really that rare?" I turned and asked everyone. I know in canon that many users of _Chi_ and _Senjutsu_ are mainly Yokai but come on, there are others.

"It's not that it's rare, it's just unusual. Most human _Chi_ users are monks living high in the mountains, completely isolated from the world." Melissa shrugged.

"Well its getting old." I turned back to Sophia and undid her bindings. "Look, we're going after Shiruku and that means when we kill her, you're brother will be freed. You're welcome to help us, if that's alright with you?" She slowly nodded and I looked back at Adrian for his permission, he nodded as well. "Well all right then! Welcome to the party!" Everyone introduced themselves and Vargas brought up a good question.

"Who's going to wake him up?" He pointed to Damian on the floor still knocked out. I stepped forward.

"I'll do i-"

"Not you!" Everyone shouted with Melissa and Maven pulling me back from the unconscious man. I clicked my tongue.

"Spoil sports…" Sophia woke up her retainer and Samantha healed them of their injuries (though with their Devil physiology most of them were already healed). We got to talking and Sophia had a tracker that can find her brother.

"Where's the tracker pointing?" The Devil got up and looked out the window, right at the large mountain in the distance. Called it.

"He's somewhere on Mt Fuji. Lady Shiruku put up many seals on the mountain and I was going to capture you to get through them undetected. That would've failed miserably." Sophia gave a wry smile to her earlier plan. Adrian placed a hand on her shoulder.

"We'll get Shiruku and save your brother don't worry. Let's go, it's early so-" Adrian stopped once he say the thing in my hand. "Pierce?"

"Hm?"

"…What's with the flag?" I was holding a pole with a white flag attached to the tip. The initial P was on draw on the flag. I smirked.

"Oh this? I had it since we got here. We're going to a place next to the largest mountain on Earth Adrian. I saw this coming a mile away." He just blinked, and then he turned to look at Maven.

"You should have never-"

"I know! I know! I messed up! Let's go climb that damn mountain already!" Maven huffed and walked outside. Everyone laughed than followed the regretful mage, all the way to the great Mt Fuji.

* * *

And done. Pierce has his second meeting with DxD's main race and it goes about as well as he expected. I also gave some small context on how to learn magic in this chapter, I hope everyone enjoyed!


	15. Chapter 14

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Yukilumi:** Thanks, I didn't know how people would react to a story mainly involving OCs but I'm glad you like it. As for Adrian? He honestly doesn't care. I wrote before that he was more of a soldier than an ambitious man. He just wants to get the job done and will gladly take advice from someone else if its a good idea. Adrian does find Pierce mildly frustrating though. He's a normal guy with common sense and Pierce's manners are off and weird to him. Adrian's relationship with Pierce is actually a mimic to my real life relationship with my cousin. He's a cool guy and I love spending time with him but man can he confuse the living crap out of me sometimes.

**Utima88:** I'll think about it but I think a good author give's his reader the freedom to imagine how a character looks. I gave the basic frame for every character but I mainly allowed everyone reading to picture the character in their heads.

**The Crowned Reaper:** He won't, Pierce will get plenty of action long before he reaches Zeth. I just didn't want Melissa and Pierce jumping into bed too fast. I know in DxD supernatural women are pretty horny with even someone like Asia ready to strip and shower with Issei to get an edge (and their relationship is one of my favorites). Still, I'm trying to give a realistic take on romance and time is needed to grow an actual bond.

* * *

**Chapter 14: A Spider's Nest and A Weirdo's Quest**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I might as well since I pretty much know everything about it (don't quote me on that). I own the OCs and I know everything about them too (I have a lying problem, can you tell?)

* * *

**Base of Mount Fuji**

"…Big mountain." Vargas snorted.

"You sure have a way with words Pierce." I smiled confidently.

"I know right? I think I might pick up poetry after this. I even have my poet name picked out, Dr. Seuss. It'll be great!" I laughed at the thought of doing that. I felt someone hit me on the head and I turned around to see Samantha holding her Sacred Gear. "What was that for?"

"I…don't know." She actually looked as confused as me. "But I got the feeling that I couldn't let you do that. How odd…" Samantha held her chin in deep thought.

'…I really worry about what goes on in Samantha's head sometimes.' I blinked at that thought. 'And hypocrite of the year goes to…' Granted, everything I say or do has a purpose, no matter how strange it may be so I think I'm good. After Maven camouflaged us and used a levitation spell, we all flew to the mountain. We chose to rest at the base and wait for Melissa to go check Shiruku's traps. Sophia already showed us a picture of her brother, his name was Simon, and when we find him to call her. We are to incapacitate him and tie him up until we can kill Shiruku. Adrian asked her if she ever saw a Japanese woman with a katana. She had no idea who he was talking about.

'The odds that Shiruku killed her are pretty high at this point.' I felt bad for the Emissary and her party but there was nothing we could do if we can't find her. Melissa chose this moment to walk out of the shadows and join everyone.

"What did you find?"

"The mountain is full of Youjutsu spells and she's hidden them very well with her Senjutsu, I nearly tripped some myself. All the caves on the mountain are filled and at the top is a barrier protected by a ton of spiders."

"Can you get through it?" Melissa nodded

"Yes I can, but this won't be like Froid. Shiruku is definitely in the mountain and she won't be alone." Everyone (sans Sophia and Damian) turned to look at me.

"What?" I crossed my arms and raised a brow.

"You're the plan guy." I tilted my head at Adrian.

"When did that become my job?" He deadpanned

"The moment you started carrying around a chalkboard in that space ring."

"…Fair enough." We walked to the nearby trees and I asked Samantha to put up a protection barrier to hide us. I actually did have an idea but no one likes to be called out on it. There's a process to things you know! Grumbling under my breath, I took out the chalkboard and started writing. I wrote the title at the top.

"Alright, ladies and- nope can't do it. Adrian ruined the mood." I sighed and just pointed at the title. "This is operation Spider Hole. Yes, that's an innuendo. You're welcome." There was silence before Sophia spoke up.

"Is he serious?" Melissa nodded.

"Just roll with it, you'll get it eventually." The Devil looked skeptical but chose to pay attention.

"Alright, now Melissa how many Youjutsu spells up the mountain are for capture and how many are meant for actual defense?" Melissa thought for second before speaking.

"Most of them are for capture really. Besides the strong one at the peak, the rest are mainly there to either keep you in place or to knock you out. They also have a side spell that tells the user when someone triggers them." I nodded to that information.

"Makes sense, with Shiruku's nature as the Jorogumo she would want to capture and enslave any "flies" that get caught in her "web" so to speak."

"We're going to use that against her aren't we?" I smiled at Maven's comment

"Yes we are." I wrote down team 1 and 2. "There will be 2 teams for this operation. Shiruku won't come out and fight us head on, that's just not her way of doing things. She'll most likely send in her brainwashed victims like Simon and possibly the Emissary if she was enslaved too." They all nodded. "Of course, she won't send out all of her strong fighters since that leaves no one to protect her. So this is how it's going to play out, Team 1 will contain Melissa, Vargas, Maven, and I." I looked at them all in silence. They didn't get it at first but they quickly figured it out and shuffled around into 2 groups. I nodded in satisfaction. "Very good. We will have Melissa take us all up to the top of the mountain unseen. Team 2 involves everyone else triggering the traps on the mountain, Shiruku will send in her army of spider and when she see's they are not enough, she will then send in her stronger slaves. Hopefully, she sends Simon so you guys can capture him and get that out the way. Melissa, get a piece of paper and pin point all the traps on the mountain." Maven got out a scroll and pointed it at the mountain; it shone and an aerial view of Mt. Fuji drew itself. Melissa then put markers on different points on the map. She handed it to Adrian. "When she sends them you're way, you are to immediately say so and we'll get to work on that barrier. If this goes perfectly we'll break through the barrier, find Shiruku, and kill her. Any questions?"

"Umm." Sophia spoke up. "Shiruku was able to seduce and control my big brother, who's far stronger than me. What's stopping her from seducing us?"

"She can't, not in the middle of a fight." Adrian shook his head. "For Shiruku to seduce someone they need to be unaware and relaxed." Melissa and I were important counters to Shiruku but that's when we're in town where she can sneak up on us. In the battlefield where you're constantly alert, Shiruku's powers won't work as well.

"How do you know all this?" I quirked a brow at her question

"Do you really have no idea who we are?" Sophia shook her head. We only told her our names and that we're after Shiruku but not that Adrian's an Emissary.

"Well I guess now is a good time as any." I put both hands on our leader's shoulders. "Have you heard about the war between the God of Monsters, Zeth and the Greek Gods?"

"…Yes I have. Why?" Sophia was confused why I was bringing it up.

"Well Shiruku is one of Zeth's Generals and Adrian here is an Emissary of the Gods sent to kill him." Sophia's and Damian's eyes widened, than they started to sweat.

"W-we attacked an Emissary and his party!?" Sophia was freaking out and really started regretting her choices the last couple of weeks. First going after Yeqon and getting revenge, only to end up half dead because her brother was mind controlled. Then she chose to come back to save him, only to attack a group backed by a pantheon. Yeah, she's had a shitty couple of weeks.

"Oh relax." I patted the she Devil on the back, bringing her back to reality. "We won't tell if you don't. For now, let's go save your brother, kill a spider lady, and get on with our lives. Deal?" Sophia looked confused by my nonchalance.

"A-are you not mad that w-we attacked you?" I deadpanned

"You tried to claw and burn me to death, what do you think?" Sophia had the decency to look ashamed but I just shrugged. "Still you did all that because you wanted to save your brother, I can respect that. So forget about it and let's do this." The silence when I finished was deafening as they all looked at me with weird looks. "What?"

"…You are the most confusing man I've ever met." Adrian really couldn't understand how someone can go from childish to mature so seamlessly. "Let's begin." I walked over to my group and nodded back at the others.

"Good luck, don't go too nuts. Looking at you spear crazy." The Demigod just gave me the middle finger. Smiling, Maven put up a camouflage spell and we followed Melissa to the top.

* * *

**40 Minutes Later, Summit of Mount Fuji**

What usually took hours of climbing by normal people, took everyone less than an hour as Melissa led us through the path that she used to reach the top and we all had superhuman physical capabilities. All except Maven, who I had to carry and who's very gifted assets were pressing on my back.

'I have a girlfriend, I have a girlfriend, I have…' I chanted that like a mantra as every step I took pressed Maven into my back. I looked ahead at Melissa. "Remind me again why we couldn't just have Maven fly us up there?"

"Shiruku has Youjutsu spells to watch the airspace; it's kind of like the Locked Space back on Olympus but just far weaker." I grumbled at Melissa's explanation. Don't get me wrong, as a hot blooded man I was enjoying the soft sensation of my back but I was already taken. 'Though she doesn't seem to have a problem with that…' I peeked over to Melissa who just smiled at me and continued to walk. Regardless, I got my head in the game and we reached the peak of Fuji. I whistled.

"Nice." The view was amazing as the horizon could be seen clearly from here and we were above the white clouds. We were on the edge of a cliff; there was a drop as the top was in a cone shape. "Is that the entrance?" I activated Chi Vision and a high level illusion blocked it.

Melissa drew a Youjutsu symbol and sent it forward, it hit an invisible wall. Like a veil disappearing, the terrain changed to show hundreds of spiders sleeping around a large dome of Chi in the center. A bunch of Youjutsu seals were covering it. We were still camouflaged so when a spider looked up to where we were, it didn't see anything and went back to sleep. I had to ask.

"Umm, this is probably a stupid question but their base is inside Mt Fuji right?"

"Yeah…"

"So why don't we just dig down or just have Maven teleport us inside?" Just like I can't have Chi Vision activated all the time, Shiruku can't have an eye on us 24/7. It didn't make sense for us to use the front door when we could get in another way. She shook her head.

"Maven can't teleport us inside because Shiruku has seals to keep her front doing that. She also has spells to track anyone digging into her base that isn't one of her spiders."

"She's covered this huge mountain with that many spells?" It was absurd to think about and it didn't make sense. That was until Maven spoke up.

"Don't underestimate an Ultimate-Class Pierce." I looked back to see Maven's serious face. "We may have killed Froid and in terms of power Shiruku is weaker but she has been here far longer. She's had the time to set so many defenses and she's older than Froid. Any being that's reached the Ultimate-Class of their race is dangerous and can take on a mortal army alone. We have to be careful." I went silent at Maven's warning.

I forgot what world I was in was for a second. A world where beings can cause untold levels of destruction if left unchecked. Any one of the Four Great Satans can wipe out modern Japan and many Ultimate-Class Devils can reach their level of power (though Sirzechs and Ajuka are different types of beasts). Hell, drop me into a human battlefield and with Touki alone I could rip apart a legion. Arrogant? Very. True? Unfortunately. With this time periods weaponry, I wouldn't be in danger of dying as long as I paid attention.

'Maybe Cao Cao was on to something…' I snorted at that supernatural Nazi's aspirations and nodded. "I'm sorry. I got compliant and I shouldn't have. I'll be more careful." Maven smiled proudly at my attitude. "…You can get off me now." Before I stated the obvious and her face got bright red.

"S-sorry." Maven got off my back and we all crouched to wait. Team 2 will start tripping Shiruku's traps and draw them out soon.

"Did you enjoy the ride?" Melissa took it upon herself to pass the time by teasing Maven.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about…" She denied it with a red face.

"Oh?" Melissa raised a brow before smirking. "So you weren't feeling up my boyfriend as he carried you?" Maven looked shocked before peeking at me. I shrugged.

"I wasn't going to say anything…" She rapidly shook her head.

"No! No, that wasn't what I was doing! I-I was just trying to get comfortable! That's all!" We all looked at her with weird looks and she realized what she said.

"No wait- That wasn't what I meant!" Maven shook her head again. "I-I was just trying to get a better grip- God damn it!" She couldn't find the words and we tried to calm her down before she passed out from how red her face was.

'The more she tries to explain, the less we believe her…' I shook my head with a fond smile as Melissa apologized for the teasing. 'She's taking it oddly well…' I watched my Yokai girlfriend as she laughed with Maven over what she did, who was still denying it. None of my girlfriends in my past life were what you would call the jealous type but they still didn't like it when other women showed interest in me (not that it happened often but you get the idea). Yet Melissa doesn't seem to mind when I spent time with other woman, it honestly confused the hell out of me.

'...Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something really obvious and important?' I idly thought as we waited for the fireworks.

* * *

**Down the Mountain**

"Is this the first one?" Aindrea stood in front of an ordinary looking plot of land. There was nothing here beside rock and snow.

"Should be." Adrian held the map and looked around. "Nothing seems out of order but we know that won't last. Be careful." The Demigod snorted.

"Like a Yokai's trap can ever-" He didn't get to finish as he sprung the trap and jumped back, missing the golden webs that tried to ensnare him. He jumped too far back though as he triggered another trap and 8 giant spider limbs made out of earth shot out of the ground around him. They interlocked like a cage, trapping the Demigod inside. The silence was deafening as Samantha tilted her head at the caged Aindrea.

"You're not very good at being arrogant." Aindrea's face heated up at the healer's blunt statement and swung his spear in anger, destroying the cage. That was enough though, as a rumbling was felt shortly after and huge spiders dug out of the ground. They encircled the group and everyone got their weapons out. Then Adrian noticed something.

"…Samantha?"

"Hm?"

"…What are you holding?" The healer had a cage that was engraved in magical symbols. She smiled cryptically.

"Just in case I get a chance."

"…I'm not even going to ask." The Emissary than rushed towards the giant arachnids' with Aindrea close behind. They rammed through the spiders, every swing destroying one spider. Sophia and Damian also joined in, the she Devil clawing every spider to cinders and her retainer freezing the ones she missed. The first wave lasted 2 minutes but more kept coming out the ground and some even came down from the peak.

"_**Spartiatikí Poreía!**_" Aindrea used his magic to sweep through the spiders that arrived and had to jump back as a green spider shot acid. Adrian cut the green spider's head off but 10 more arrived. They lined up and started shooting acid balls in waves at them.

"_**Praesidio muros.**_" Samantha blocked them with a yellow barrier and Damian shot a giant pike of ice, freezing and shattering the group of spiders. Different variety of spiders kept coming. Some shot acid, others moved like blurs, and some even had incredibly hard exoskeletons. Aindrea had extra fun against the last group if the smile he had when ripping one in half was any indicator. They never stayed in one place and moved throughout the mountain side, tripping every trap they came across. The spider army seemed endless as literal piles were left everywhere they went. Still, the group never stopped fighting and waited for the stronger opponents to show up.

"Get back!" Sophia gave a warning as she stood in front of the ocean of spiders. Her stomach bloated and her throat enlarged just like that time against Pierce. She then breathed out a massive surge of red flames, burning nearly 1,000 spiders to ash. The mountain shook from the attack and a scorched crater remained.

"…Pierce took that to the face?" Adrian was shocked at the Devil's attack.

"I still say he's lying about being human." Aindrea moved to finish off the spiders that the attack missed. Sophia was breathing heavily and her hands were on her knee, stopping herself from falling. Samantha came over and took out some water from her space ring.

"Thanks." Sophia's voice sounded rough, probably a side effect from the fire attack. The healer smiled before facing Adrian.

"Where to now-" Samantha stopped and took out the blood rune. She was the last one to hold it and they forgot about it since they were attacking Shiruku's base. It was pulsing. "She's here. The woman that attacked me and Pierce." They looked around and a chuckle could be heard from a tall rock. They looked over to see the black haired woman smiling, looking down on them.

"And what is that? Some sort of tracker? If you wanted to see me then all you had to do was ask." The woman back flipped off the rock as Sophia landed right where she was, burning the rock to ash.

"Where's my brother?!" The Devil was livid as this woman was the one who led her and Simon to Shiruku. The woman only smiled before pointing behind her.

"Sophia!" She turned to Adrian's yell but couldn't dodge the punch to her face. Her nose bled as she was punched way. Adrian pointed his sword at the attacker and shot a beam of sunlight but they just flew up with their draconic wings. They watched as Simon landed next to the woman. Simon was a tall, handsome man with short brown hair and he was wearing a slim coat over a black shirt and pants. He had slit amber eyes. Sadly, those eyes were currently hazy and his face was expressionless. Sophia quickly came back holding her nose and gritted her teeth at what she saw.

"Let my brother go you bitch!" Sophia's tail came out and wings like Simon's grew out her back. 2 horns shot out of her head and her eyes became a blood red. Adrian spoke into his communication ring.

"They're here, go in."

"Roger."

Adrian never took his eyes off the duo and he noticed the way the woman smiled when he said that. Frowning, Adrian felt something was wrong but couldn't figure out why till the woman started laughing.

"It's so cute when fledglings think they're so smart. Don't you agree Simon?"

"Yes, Mistress Yua." Simon robotically answered. This enraged Sophia even more as her demonic energy rose. Adrian stepped forward.

"You sure talk big but there are only two of you. You're outnumbered." Yua tilted her head in amusement.

"Two? Whoever taught you to count would be ashamed." The group heard someone walking up behind them and they turned around. A young man stood there. He had long blond hair, blue eyes, and a very handsome face. He was wearing a toga with leather armor over it.

"Jason..." Adrian softly spoke the name of the young man. A party member of Sara, the missing Emissary. The spirit inheritor of the Greek Hero Jason and a master swordsman. There was just one problem. Jason's eyes weren't hazy and he even gave a vibrant smile.

"It's nice to know my reputation precedes me." He stood a distance away and quirked a brow at Aindrea. "I thought Lady Shiruku wanted him."

"They left him behind but hey, at least that human and Yokai she wants are going straight to her. Now we just need to deal with the leftovers." No one can say Adrian was slow on the uptake.

'She knows their coming.' Adrian hurriedly brought his communication ring up. "Pierce! Pierce, it's a trap get out!" There was no answer. Jason held up an orb.

"Signal Disruptor. You got to love magic right?" Jason smiled before saying faintly. "_**Skotoména Térata.**_" Two golden pillars appeared on either side of him. The pillars dimmed to show a large chimera and Cyclops. This was one of Jason's Odes and it allowed him to summon monsters slain by the original Jason to fight for him.

"You betrayed your Emissary?" Anger boiled inside Adrian as he pointed his sword towards Jason. "She trusted you to have her back!"

"And now she'll learn from this and grow as a person." Jason blinked, than tilted his head innocently. "Oh wait." He dodged the beam of sunlight Adrian shot and laughed.

"Why!?"

"Zeth offered more. I didn't hate her or anything; I just found a better deal." Sophia's patience finally ran dry as she lunged at Yua only for Simon to block her attack. She was grabbed by the throat and slammed on the ground, a crater formed from the impact. Damian ran forward to help but Simon threw Sophia at him. Aindrea blocked the Cyclops's swing and punched it in the stomach, sending it stumbling back. He sidestepped the chimera's lunge and slashed it on the side. The snake tail sprayed poison at Aindrea and it hit his arm.

"Arghhh!" The poison burned his skin and he cut off the snake's head. Screaming in pain, the chimera breathed fire and Aindrea blocked it with his illusory Spartan shield. Jason slashed at Adrian with his sword and he parried it. Everyone quickly got into their fights with Yua disappearing. More spiders started gathering.

'This couldn't possibly get any worse!' Adrian pushed Jason back and was about to follow up but stopped as a large rumble began. A massive spider 8 meters in height burrowed out of the ground. It was the first of three.

"…God damn it." Then Jason was on him again.

* * *

**Inside Mount Fuji**

'…Something's wrong…' I frowned as we made our way down the tunnels of Shiruku's base. The moment Adrian gave us the go; we snuck past all the spiders and got to work breaking through the barrier. When it came down all we saw was a huge hole in the ground. The entrance to Shiruku's base is an actual spider hole. I'm a freaking genius. I told Adrian we broke through and that we were going in. He didn't respond. That was red flag number 1. I figured he was focusing on his fight and I chose to contact him after finding Shiruku. Red flag number 2 was that the walk through the tunnel was too peaceful. Melissa said that we avoided the detection spell on the barrier and Maven was hiding us with her magic. Shiruku shouldn't have discovered us but the spiders seemed to be avoiding this path and we haven't hit a dead end.

"Adrian, can you hear me?" He still didn't answer. "That's not a good sign…"

"Do you think he's too busy because Simon's really strong?" Maven remembered Sophia saying how powerful her brother was.

"Should we go back?" I shook my head.

"We're already this far, it'll take more time for us to walk out the way we came. Let's just keep going." I didn't like it but when I activated Chi Vision I saw a large aura bursting with Chi at the end of the path. I took a guess of who that was. 'But how can I sense her? That other woman can hide her aura completely yet Shiruku isn't doing that.' It was an invitation.

"Shirukus up ahead. She seems to be alone." Vargas snorted. "Yeah, so before we go in I want you guys to stay back. I'll go talk with the General, back me up when things go south." They gave hesitant nods and we walked to the entrance of a large cave. In the middle of the cave was a platform, Shiruku was sitting on a throne and seemed to be having tea. She looked exactly like the image from the rune hologram, a beautiful Japanese princess with a hime-hair style but she was wearing a red and black kimono now. She also had normal human legs. Shiruku smiled as she relaxed and looked completely out of place in the dark cave…especially with the mountain of skeletons around her. Most of them belonged to animals but some humans skeletons were there too.

'Well, that's cliché.' I turned to Melissa. "Do you sense anyone hiding?" I couldn't find anyone else and she observed the space but it truly seemed like Shiruku was alone. None of us believed that. Melissa was good enough to find her traps around the mountain but if Shiruku wanted to hide someone in her general vicinity, then we wouldn't be able to find them. I took a deep breath and walked forward. I walked over to the bones and stopped a couple of meters from Shiruku. She smiled at my arrival.

"Why hello." Her voice was very soothing. "Welcome to my home. Sorry for the mess, dinner with my children could be…difficult to clean up." Her words and smile did not match at all.

'Psychotic…' I pushed down the revulsion I felt and looked around. "That's alright. I was the one that came uninvited, if anything it makes the place seem homey." Shiruku chuckled at my sarcastic tone.

"Ah a man that can banter without fear, you are a rare breed. The majority of men that I've invited are never so responsive." She sighed.

'Probably because they're too busy being terrified out of their minds.' I thought this as I walked around, trying to locate anyone hiding.

"You are quite the interesting man Pierce." I stopped to look at her.

"How do you know my name?" Shiruku lifted her arm and played with a small spider on her wrist.

"Every being in a kingdom has its role, even the smallest ones." The small spider crawled back into her sleeve.

"Okay…" That's one answer solved. "…but why are you telling me that?"

"Cause I want you Pierce." I deadpanned.

"…Sorry, I'm taken but if we break up I'll heavily consider it, okay?" Shiruku smiled before standing up.

"You're something special." I snorted.

"Funny, my mom said something similar before." She walked towards me and I stood still, my brain becoming foggy. I frowned, knowing what she was doing. She saw my frown but kept talking.

"I've been with many human men Pierce, but none like you." Shiruku stopped right in front of me. "The moment I first laid eyes on your Chi…it was like nothing I felt before." She placed a hand on my cheek. "I saw what you did against my children and Yua. I saw your fight against the Devil woman. I've seen your power." Her eyes shone with greed and lust. She smiled victoriously once she saw my glazed over eyes. "Join me Pierce, and once Zeth takes over Olympus then I'll make you my King."

"I…can't…" Shiruku was amused by my strained response.

"And why not? What's stopping you?" She leaned in to kiss me.

"Be…cause…" She was inches away from my lips.

"You're not my type."

Shiruku stopped completely. She leaned her head back to stare at me and looked confused.

"W-what do you I'm not-aaaaahhhhhhhh!" Shiruku screamed as I plunged my Chi coated sword into her gut. She grabbed my arm and tried to crush it but I already activated Touki. I punched her in the face and sent her flying right through her stone throne. Her nose was broken and the hole in her stomach was bleeding heavily. I didn't hesitate as I created 6 Chi Swords and sent them flying towards her. But before they could reach her, a blur appeared and sliced my Chi Swords to pieces. The blur stopped in front of Shiruku and I saw it was the black haired Japanese Emissary, Sara. She was a beautiful woman with a modest figure, a pointy tail and was a wearing hakama. Her brown eyes were hazy.

"Well that answers tha-" I didn't get to finish as I jumped back and avoided the man sized spear of light. My eyes widened when I saw the attack and looked up to the sound of flapping. A man in black armor hovered; he didn't have a helmet on so I could see his long black hair, charcoal eyes, and handsome features. The man had 8 black wings. "…and you must be Yeqon." Shiruku got to her feet with her nose already healed. The hole on her stomach however was still in the process of healing. She looked pissed.

"Kill him…" She looked really pissed. "Kill him! Make him suffer, break his bones, rend his flesh, I don't care! I'll take his seed from his rotting corpse!" Spider limbs shot out of her torso and an entire spider body replaced her legs. She roared and hundreds of spiders came out from every direction. Sara and Yeqon stood on both sides at the ready.

"…You don't take rejection well do you?" Yeqon flew at me.

"_**Spiritus Custos!**_" Vargas' Templar smashed right into the Fallen Angel, sending him flying into the cave walls.

"_**Flammis acribus malestrom!**_" Maven's fire spell incinerated a large portion of the surrounding spiders. The fight was on.

"Vargas take Yeqon. Maven and Melissa you guys fight Shiruku. I'll-" I blocked Sara's katana from slicing my head off. I tried to punch her stomach but she just blocked it with her second katana. 'She had 2? When!?' Sara swung both swords at me dozens of times and I parried every single one. I jumped over her low kick and tried kicking her in the face but she rolled to the side in time. I was on her again and I quickly found out something.

'I'm pretty alright at swordsmanship.' Why did that pop in my mind? Because while I'm alright, Sara is a text book genius. Every swing I did, she parried it and counter attacked perfectly. Dylan wasn't some sword grandmaster but he knew his stuff. I was taught to properly cut, guard, and center myself with a sword. Sara? She quickly figured out my form and I was put on the defense. After dodging a fist to the face Sara got in my guard and cut my side.

"Shit!" I jumped away but Sara wasn't going to let me go that easily. We kept clashing blades and the numbers of cuts on my body increased. With Touki the cuts were shallow but my Chi was having some difficulty stopping the bleeding. I didn't have time to think why as a spider lunged at me and I punched it to pieces. But that second it took left me open to Sara and she gave me a deep cut on my leg. I yelled in pain and stopped holding back, kicking her hard in the chest.

"_**Vijara Ka Sanrakshan.**_" I heard Sara say this really fast before my kick connected and her skin became like diamonds. A shock wave rang out as the kick flung her back into a group of spider and crushed them to pieces. She got back up without a single injury.

"…Of course you know magic." I blocked a light sword and saw the injured form of Yeqon. I punched him in the face and he flew back. I saw Vargas' avatar was in pieces and Vargas himself was in bad shape. He was slowly being overrun by spiders.

"Pierce!" Sara tried to skewer me and I caught her arm, flinging her over my shoulder. I blocked 2 more light swords from Yeqon and looked over to the girls. They weren't doing so good as Shiruku kept shooting Youjutsu spells at them and they could only defend. Maven fell down, covering her arm from a spider attack. We needed to retreat.

I kicked Yeqon away and tried to turn but I couldn't make it in time. Sara cut me on the back and it nearly cut my spine into two.

"Aaaahhhhhh! Fucking- you know what, screw saving you!" I grabbed Sara by the neck and threw her at Yeqon. When they were distracted, I channeled a large amount of Chi and used Sword Fury. Exhaustion filled my body as the Chi blade was nearly 15 meters and I hit them both with it. Yeqon put up a magic circle and Sara activated her diamond skin spell. They both shattered as a massive shock wave rang out and they flew into the cave wall. A huge crater appeared and the mountain shook violently.

"We're leaving now!" I saw that they were still alive so I ran to Vargas and killed every spider around him. Melissa grabbed Maven and they went into the Shadow Realm.

"And where exactly are you going to escape?!" Shiruku waved her hands and web like marks appeared all over the cave walls. The tunnel we came through sealed itself and spider webs formed over our heads. Shiruku in her true formed walked (crawled?) over to us.

"You're not going anywhere! This is my domain! You will be used as live stock for my children and your seeds will allow me to give birth to greater warriors! There is no-" She caught an arrow that I shot at her head and stared at it. She gave me a look that said "really?"

"Did you really thin-" The arrow in her hand exploded into a huge fiery blaze. Shiruku had Touki on so it didn't hurt her but it did its job. Melissa and Maven shot out of the shadows with a magic circle appearing under us. Shiruku's spells can keep Maven out but not in.

"No!" Then we were gone.

* * *

**10 Miles from Mount Fuji**

A magic circle appeared in the middle of the east forest and we all fell out. We looked like hell; Vargas was the worst as multiple burning holes covered his body. I quickly put my hands on his chest and started giving him my Chi.

"Thanks..." Vargas couldn't get up as the adrenaline wore off.

"Don't mention it." I turned to look at Maven who was telling Adrian they escaped. "Told you that exploding arrow would come in handy." She shook her head.

"It's still too expensive to mass produce." Maven leaned on a tree and put a seal on her arm; it had a nasty spider bite. "A magic spell would take a second longer to form and is more noticeable but it's far less expensive."

"Still worked…" I mumbled as Vargas' wounds stabilized.

"Adrian and the rest retreated, they couldn't bring back Sophia's brother. They'll meet us back at the hideout." We all nodded and Melissa walked over to me. She also had burns and cuts but they were mainly healed by her own Chi. She put a hand on my shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" She touched the cuts all over my body and flinched when she saw the cut on my back and leg.

"It's not as bad as it looks." That was the truth. The only real danger was the cut to my spine and my Chi was already holding that part of my body together. The majority of my injuries weren't life threatening but I was still having trouble healing them. 'Why?' Maven walked over as I wondered and she waved her hand. A magic circle appeared in front of me and black smoke was sucked from my cuts.

"What the…" My Chi had a far easier time now and my wounds were quickly closing.

"Sara must have put some curse magic on her swords. They made healing your wounds at least five times harder." My eyes widened and I paled.

"H-how long would it have taken for the curse to go away?" Maven tilted her head in thought.

"At most a week or 2, it typically says in your body until the magical energy runs out. That's what that black smoke was." I sighed in relief.

"So no crazy side effects like growing an extra limb or eye?" Maven smiled in amusement

"No, Pierce. You're not going to get any stranger than you already are."

"Well that's a relief-hey!" They laughed and I carried Vargas over my shoulder. Maven levitated us and we flew to the hideout. The flight over was mostly quiet. I tried my best to lighten the mood but the reality was still there. We lost. Maybe not miserably but it was our first real set back.

'This was the first time my plan failed.' Pasha may have kicked my ass back in Constantinople but the goal was to distract him not beat him. When we retreated back then it was because we got what we came for. Now? We got our asses kicked, Shiruku knows our strengths, and we have nothing to show for it. '…Well this has been a shitty day.' I sighed as we reached the hideout. I activated Chi Vision and saw none of Shiruku's spider minions. I did however see some ordinary house spiders on the porch; I squashed those as we went inside.

"You're back." Adrian stood up and walked towards us from the couch. His armor that was on the side had a couple of deep cuts. He also had a lot of bruises on his arms and neck. Aindrea and Damian didn't look any better with Samatha working on their severe burns. "How did it go?"

"Shiruku has Sara as one of her slaves." Adrian nodded.

"Yes I know. A person named Jason betrayed her and brought her to Shiruku." He clenched his fist remembering the scumbag.

"She also had a Fallen Angel with her. I think it was the Yeqon they were looking for." Damian stood up and walked over after hearing that.

"Really?! Was he tall with long black hair and a suit of armor?" He gritted his teeth at my nod. "So that trash still lives…" I brought Vargas over to Samantha and she started healing him.

"So what do we do now?" Adrian sat back down.

"We rest and re-plan. We did hurt Jason and Simon, the odds of Shiruku sending them after us so soon is low." I shrugged and went to sit down. Everyone went off to do their own things after healing, I also found out that Sophia was pretty hurt by her brother and was resting in bed. Melissa came over to kiss me good night; she was tired from her fight. I watched her go into her room and looked over to see Damian sitting by Sophia's door. I walked over and sat with the guy.

"Hey." I started the conversation

"Hello." That was all he said

"…"

"…"

"…So what did Yeqon do? You know, to make Sophia and Simon go after him?" I didn't ask Sophia earlier since we were on our way to Fuji.

"It's not for me to say." Damian didn't budge. "If you wish to know then you should ask Lady Sophia once she recovers."

"Alright…" I dropped it. "…So how come you were the only one she brought to save her brother? Not trying to be rude or anything but if they're from a noble house then I would assume they would bring some pretty powerful experts to save Simon."

"I'm glad we didn't." Damian sighed. "I can't tell you anything important but just know that Lady Sophia can't mobilize our forces because of political problems."

"Ah." I gave a knowing nod. "It always comes back to politics for Devil's doesn't it? But why are you glad you didn't give bring stronger allies?"

"Because if we had brought our stronger Devils and fought against Shiruku then that would pit our entire house against Zeth. The Bael Clan would have our house's head if we brought the Monster God's wrath to the Underworld. Especially with the current tensions."

"…Right." I was confused at Damian's words. "A-are you guys under the Bael Clan's protection?" Damian looked at me strangely.

"The Bael Clan governs the entire Underworld; they must do what's best for the entire Devil race."

"The Bael? What about the Four Satans?" Damian looked at me like I was crazy

"The 4 Satans died at the end of the Great War." I frowned.

"I know that. I was talking about the Four Great Satans." That confused the Devil even more.

"…What are you talking about?"

"What are _you_ talking about?"

"…"

"…"

"…D-do you not have any idea what's the current status of the Underworld?" I opened my mouth to say yes but I stopped when I realized something.

I didn't.

I remembered asking Maven a long time ago if she was contracted with a Devil but she said she wasn't. Since she went to a powerful and knowledgeable magic school made by Merlin himself; the allure of forming a contract with a Devil was pretty non-existent. At the time I let it go and planned to learn what's going on in the Underworld later.

I never did.

"Actually, I've always been curious about the history of the Devil race and its current affairs." Damian seemed surprised by this.

"Really? I had no idea you were so inter-"

"I am."

"…What do you want to know?" I picked up my chair and placed it right where I can face the Devil.

"Tell me everything."

* * *

And done. I hope this shows my plan for this fic. This isn't a power trip and Pierce isn't going to beat every General he meets as easily as Froid. He will fail sometimes and will need to push the envelope to succeed. I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	16. Chapter 15

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Amatsumi**: I'll explain the DxD timeline a little in this chapter but I'll say this now, this is mainly my theory on things. I remember reading somewhere that Ajuka created the Evil Pieces "System" after the Devil Civil War, that means he must have created the Evil Pieces and tested them (like you would a prototype) long before that. My evidence? Sirzech's father, Zeoticus Gremory, reincarnated Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa to be his Bishop. Heinrich died on 1535. And before anyone says it, no I did not say Naizer was a reincarnated Devil. He was just a regular asshole who saw the chance for power and took it.

**Magnussen osbourne**: At some level, Pierce's body already is superhuman. Being exposed to a pure form of energy like Chi for such a long time has to have some affect on the human body right? He's strong and fast without Touki on, adding that on top just brings him to a higher level of power. That's actually why he has such a huge appetite, his body uses up far more energy than a regular human.

**Crainium9**: Pierce will work on Chi, get Senjutsu, learn magic (I already said the magic's he'll focus on), and anything else that comes to mind. I'm trying to make a story about a guy whose average really in all forms of life and doesn't have power given to him at birth (Sacred Gear, spirit inheritor, Holy/Demon sword, etc.). I'm never going to give him some bullshit ability out of nowhere; any bullshit ability I do give him will be because he worked hard to get it.

* * *

**Chapter 15: A Biblical Lesson and a Godly Moron**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but…yeah no, I got nothing. I just wanted to write that. I own the OCs but…I like writing the word but.

* * *

The Great War.

The battle between God, the Four Satans, and the Grigori. Between Angels, Devils, and Fallen Angels.

In a time long before, God created the Angels in his image to be his enforcers, his protectors, his children. But like all beings that have free will, there will always be the ones that do not conform to their creators will. Angels like Azazel and Shemhazai opposed God's teachings and he cast them out of his kingdom into the Underworld. Then came Lucifer, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, and Leviathan. No one really knew why, maybe he felt regretful, maybe he couldn't bring himself to do it personally, maybe he wanted to give them a fighting chance. Regardless, God gave the Satan's and the Grigori time to build their forces. In all of the Satan's infinite arrogance, they knew if God wanted to raid the Underworld with his army of Angels then the infant Devil race wouldn't have stood a chance. So centuries passed and their armies grew, The 72 Pillars were created, the Grigori's forces expanded, and God created more Angels fit for war. Small battles still occurred when the Three Factions met but the rule ofwas to wait for that spark. That one small trigger that will blow the fire keg and really signify the beginning.

That spark was the death of Jesus.

God created the very first Longinus from the spear that pierced Jesus' side, The True Longinus, and commanded his Angels to charge. The war was on. The massive armies amassed by all three sides clashed and bloodshed reigned. The Seraphs against the Satans, the Ultimate-Class' versus the Burning Angels, Azazel and his Cadres also joined the fight. It was mayhem. It wasn't just the Biblical Factions that were fighting either, many Yokai, European monsters, Spirits, Fairies, and even some Dragons got involved. 1,400 years passed and God finally descended to the battlefield. The Great War ended that day.

The Four Satan's died, God "retreated" back into Heaven and Azazel took his remaining Fallen Angels back to the Underworld. There was no winner or peace, just uneasy silence. With the death of the Satans, the Bael Clan took control of the Devil Race and chose not to go to war again. A century of rest passed and so came the year 1500. That year signified the beginning of a new age. Why? Because of the union between a certain red haired Gremory Clan head and a brown haired Ruin Princess. Sirzechs Gremory was born. A paragon at birth, with his inherent talent for the Power of Destruction so strong, only his mother could hold him. At 12 he was stronger than most battle hardened High Class Devils. At 20, he reached the Ultimate-Class and was unmatched. At 30, he gained power that could've matched the Original Satans. His childhood friend and rival, Ajuka Astaroth, was not too far behind. Matching his strength tit for tat, Ajuka also created an invention that can reincarnate other races and make them Devils. He called them Evil Pieces. Ajuka gave the first ones to his father and Sirzech's father, Zeoticus Gremory, to try out. They were a success. They were not the only geniuses. Serafall Sitri, Falbium Glasya-Labolas, Grayfia Lucifuge, etc. Devils with great talent started popping up everywhere and the Underworld was in a buzz, decades passed.

Then the original descendants came.

They wanted to reignite the war and complete the goal the Four Satan's wanted, to be Kings of the World. Sirzechs and his generation didn't want that. They had no experience with war and had no desire to know, all they wanted was the preservation of the Devil race. The Bael Clan were of the same mind and the original descendants didn't like that. The Underworld was now in a different kind of buzz.

"…"

"…"

"…Well?" Damian seemed confused by that.

"Well what?"

"W-what do you mean well what!?" I looked at him like he was crazy. "T-That's it?"

"There has been talk of the original descendants making connections and factions forming." Damian looked at me in wonder. "Are you okay?"

"…Yeah, yeah I'm fine." I leaned back in my chair and felt Sophia's aura change. "You should go in the room, she's awake." Damian lifted a brow before going inside Sophia's room. My mind was in shambles.

'…Holy mother of God…' Did God have a mother? A question for another day, right now this takes priority. 'The current year was 1596…God and the Four Satan's died in the 1400s… Sirzechs and them were born on 1500…The Devil Civil War hasn't happened yet…' I triple checked all the information I was given and came to a realization.

'…Goddamn I am far from canon.' Okay, re-realization. I mean you can't really blame me; the only experiences I had with Devils were Naizer and Sophia (both times involved me kicking their asses funnily enough). Somewhere along the line I forgot all about canon and what year it was. I rubbed my forehead and headed for my room. 'Not like it really matters though.' Even if the Devil Civil War was about to happen, it currently had nothing to do with me. I had my hands full with Shiruku and I had no time to worry about the Underworld. I stopped as a very faint memory entered my mind.

'Wait a minute; didn't Sairaorg have a member of the Buné Clan in his peerage? The Extinct Buné Clan.' The only reason I remembered this was because my little sister was really getting into anime at the time and wanted to watch Highschool DxD Hero. I liked the man that can completely transform into a Dragon. 'What does that mean? Maven said they were one of the 72 Pillars and Damian said his "house" like it was still around. Did they side with the Old Satan Faction and were destroyed in the Civil War?'

I looked back to Sophia's room and shook my head. 'Not my problem.' I went to bed.

* * *

**1 Day Later, Town Center**

I walked pass the carts littering the main road and stopped to buy things here and there. Adrian was right, Shiruku didn't send anyone after us and the night was relatively peaceful. Sophia's beacon also said that Simon was still on Mt Fuji. I played with the blood rune as I tossed it up and down, doing coins tricks with it. The rune hasn't pulsed either so she didn't send Yua (they told me her name).

'Shame, I really wanted to punch her in the face once or twice.' I sighed at the missed chance. I didn't know what it was that made me so disgusted by the spider maiden. Maybe it was the fact she tried to mind rape me into submission. Or maybe it was because her smile just screamed crazy. Regardless, I waited for the next meeting with her and I wouldn't miss again. I had Chi Vision active just to be safe and roamed the small town.

'Oh?' I saw the young Priest I met a couple of days ago, Yukan. Vargas was still wounded in bed and we needed to wait till he was all healed. That left me with nothing to do. I might as well bother somebody since I'm free, right?

"Hey Yukan!" The young Priest turned around.

"Oh, Pierce-san it's nice to see you!" He lightly bowed and I followed suit.

"It's just Pierce man…Do you need help with that?" I saw that he was struggling with a bucket of ink and a pile of papers.

"I got this! Miss Yukina finally let me get the new shipment. I won't let her down!"

'…He'd be much more convincing if his legs weren't shaking.' The poor kid's legs looked ready to buckle. "Give me that."

"Ah!" I picked up the heavy jug of ink without effort. "U-umm, there's no need I-"

"Lead the way." Yukan looked at me before sighing and continued walking. We passed the town center and walked down an old path. There were no houses in the direction we were going and before long we walked along the shore of Lake Ashi. I saw a large Troii and when we went through it, I was lead into a majestic Shinto Shrine.

"Welcome to Hakone Gongen, Pierce-san."

"Wow…it's real nice." The Shrine had the typical aura a place meant for worship had (not an actual aura I can see with Chi but just on how it looks). After washing our hands and rinsing our mouths with water from a fountain, Yukan lead me to the main building. Even though I was a member of Adrian's party, I could still go into places of worship without it being a problem. I just couldn't break anything sacred or attack a priest/priestess. We walked by 2 Komainu statues that were on either side of the door frame. I stopped and stared at them.

'Aindrea said that Shinto Shrine's typically have protection in the form of either foxes or mythical lion-dogs called Komainu.' I tried probing with Chi Vision but I felt nothing. I moved to touch them but I heard Yukan call for me. I narrowed my eyes at the statues before shrugging and followed along. I never noticed the subtle tilt of the head the statue gave me before returning to its original position.

10 Minutes Later, Main Hall

* * *

Yukan and I eventually made it to a main hall that had a dividing frame and a podium in the middle. Yukan put down the pieces of paper he had on the podium and I put down the jug of ink next to them. Yukan bowed low to me.

"Thank you Pierce-san, I would have taken much longer to reach the Shrine if it wasn't for you." I waved my hand.

"Don't mention it. It wasn't hard but I got to know what are-"

"Yukan? Is that you?" A very serene voice rang out on the other side of the frame. Yukan's face became beet red at the voice.

"Y-yes Yukina-san, I-it's me…" I gave a weird look towards the young Priest's timid form.

'…Where the hell did the preppy and confidant act go?' I looked over at the frame curiously, wondering who could reduce Yukan to such a state. My curiosity was quickly sated as the frame opened up and pretty girl came through. Yukina had shoulder length black hair, black eyes, and was wearing a miko outfit that fit quite well with her lithe frame. She had a very beautiful smile. 'Oh…Yep, that'd do it.'

"Welcome back Yukan-kun!" Yukina's eyes practically shined when she saw Yukan and he blushed even harder at her happy tone. She looked over at me. "And who's this?"

"Oh this is-"

"I'm Pierce, I was walking by the entrance when Yukan saw me and invited me in to take a look around." Yukan was really confused by that but Yukina just seemed proud.

"But of course! Anyone that curious about the Shrine is welcome inside. I'm glad Yukan-kun was so hospitable."

"No, that's no-" I poured Chi into my arm and with superhuman speed, smacked Yukan in the back of the head. He looked back at me in confusion but Yukina didn't notice. She looked down at the jug and papers.

"Did you already get the materials?" Yukina looked up in Yukan in worry. "You should have waited for me. These must have been very heavy to carry, are you okay?"

"Actually, Pierce-" My arm became a blur as I smacked him again. I gave the most innocent face I could make as Yukan narrowed his eyes at me. "I-it's alright Yukina-san. I-I knew you were busy with your morning rituals, so I went ahead and did it." Yukan was quickly brought into a hug by Yukina.

"Oh Yukan-kun, you didn't need to do that but…thank you."

'…Yukan-kun looks ready to go subatomic if she squeezes any harder...' I watched as the young Priest went stiff and his face started glowing crimson. '…I get it now…why the majority of romance animes have their protagonist practically allergic to the opposite sex…this is fucking great to watch!' Yukina let go of Yukan and said that she will put away the materials. She'll come back to give me a tour of the shrine. I watched in amusement as Yukan dropped the floor after Yukina left, he looked like he came from a war and won from the tired/blissful look on his face.

'Ah, young love.' I bumped him with my shoulder once he got up. "Let me guess. Childhood? Reason for becoming a Priest? Are you secretly an alien but found love with a human and is trying all you can do to be with her?" He blinked.

"…What?"

"The reason for liking her." I rolled my eyes. "I can get why you find her attractive but you don't seem the shallow type." I'm not even point out the love sick puppy act (seriously, there's being obvious and then there's whatever he did).

"I-I can't explain it, it's just…well…" Yukan started motioning with his hands when words failed him and a regular person would have been stumped.

"Ahhh, I see..." I understood him completely and I placed a hand on his shoulder. "Well don't worry; I think you got a pretty good chance." He slumped in sadness.

"No, I don't. She only see's me as a little brother, a sibling. She's nice to everyone."

'…He's kidding right?' I tilted my head at the dejected boy. "Dude, I know nice people and she was polite but the look she had when seeing you said it all."

"I'm telling you that's-" Yukina came back and looked at us.

"Ready to start?" I nodded my head and Yukan started to walk away.

"I-I better get back to Priest-" Yukina stopped him.

"You're coming with us."

"B-But I need to help-" Yukina waved her hand

"They'll survive without you for an hour or 2, let's go!" Yukina dragged Yukan with her and went to the front of the shrine….completely forgetting that I was the one that needed a tour.

"…Don't have a chance my ass." I quickly followed after the two.

* * *

**1 Hour Later, Offering Hall**

After giving me a tour of all the different structures they had here like the Ema, Omikuji, and Shimenawa, I was finally brought to the offering hall. I stood and stared at the building as Yukina walked forward.

"This is an offering basket." She pointed to the square red basket. "Many people give donations and pray to the Gods for safety and health."

"Oh, uhhhh…" I reached into my pocket but that was only to hide me rubbing my space ring and a coin appeared in my hand. I took it out and was about to toss it in the basket but I stopped myself. I looked at Yukina. "What God do you worship here?" Not every Shrine worshipped the same Shinto Gods. Some solely focused on one and I was curious on who I was praying too.

"Amaterasu." I quirked a brow.

"Cool." I tossed the coin in and then rang the bell. I bowed twice and then clapped my hands together 2 times. I closed my eyes.

'So…what am I supposed to say?' I should probably ask for safety and health like Yukina said… but where's the fun in that? 'Amaterasu? Hello? You there? I mean, I know you exist and all that but I don't really know how this praying thing works. Athena didn't really go into detail about it but I guess I'll just say…what's up? How was your day?' I didn't get a response. 'My day has been alright. Yesterday was pretty bad all things considered but hey you win some you lose some, that's life right?' Did they leave? I couldn't feel Yukina's or Yukan's aura anymore. 'But yeah, we got time until Zeth really starts making moves so there's no point rushing it. By the way, is it true what they said about Izanami and how she's trapped in th-"

"You know, many would call you blasphemous for that prayer." A woman's voice rang out and it didn't belong to Yukina. I opened my eyes.

I saw a large fountain with chairs and tables all around it. A Japanese woman sat on one of the chairs and was drinking tea. The woman looked very regal. Straight black hair, high cheeks bone, red lips and a beauty mark right below them. She was wearing a royal purple kimono and her pupils were glowing in a golden yellow.

"…No." The woman raised a brow

"No?"

"No! No that was way too easy! I mean come on; it's one thing to meet the Greek Gods since I'm in Adrian's party but I prayed to you once and that's all it took!? Nope, I refuse! I demand a recount! Show me the rule book!" I pointed at the woman in anger and she looked at me like I was crazy. Then she started laughing.

"Athena was right, you really are unconventional!" The woman took out another cup. "Do you want some?"

"…Sure." I sighed and accepted the current situation. I sat down and looked around as Amaterasu (I'm assuming at this point) poured me some tea.

I was in a very beautiful garden, flowers that didn't belong littered the grounds, and a small lake shined on the side. Koi fish, eels, and salmon swam in the water. There was even a white dog resting on the sid-

'Wait a minute. Is that…' The dog that I thought had white fur was actually clouds covering its body. Lightning shot out periodically. '…I want to pet it.' Any desire to get up and play with the lightning dog was put on hold as Amaterasu gave me the full cup. I took a sip. "Wow, this is pretty good."

"Why thank you." Amaterasu smiled at my compliment. "Ebisu brought it back after his trip from China."

"Oh? How is it over there? I plan to explore the world in the future so I'm curious."

"It's a very beautiful country. The Ming's still rule it but I've heard their power is slowly waning. Lots of ancient structures and buildings remain in the country and I would highly recommend it." Amaterasu soon started telling me specific spots that I could go visit in China and even some places outside of it. I raised a brow at the Goddess' passionate suggestions.

"Have you been to these places?"

"No, sadly I haven't." She sighed and leaned back on her chair. "Ebisu and Inari travel a lot though and always tell me of the places they've been too. I really wish I could go."

"What's stopping you?"

"I'm the Chief Goddess, it's my duty to make sure Heaven is in strict order or else everything will go to Hell." I raised a brow in amusement.

"Was that a pun?"

"…Was it good?" I shrugged

"I thought it was funny." Amaterasu smiled proudly.

"Then yes, it was a pun."

I gave the Sun Goddess a weird look before drinking my tea and we sat in comfortable silence.

"So…" I started. "You want to explain why I'm here because I'm pretty sure my friends are freaking out on how I mysteriously disappeared."

"You never left Pierce. This is just an astral projection; your real body is still in front of the offering hall."

'Huh, that explains the outfit.' My clothes changed to a traditional kimono long ago and I did feel like I was inside my mind, like when I go into Zen Mode. I blinked when I realized the problem.

"Wait, if all this is an astral projection then how come I can drink this?" I looked down at my cup of tea.

"You can still taste and feel things in an astral projection." Amaterasu took another sip. "As for the reason, I need to ask a favor from you."

"A favor?" I wasn't expecting that. "What kind of favor?"

"I need you to stop Shiruku." I deadpanned.

"Umm, that's kind of what I've been trying to do." She shook her head.

"That's not what I meant. I want you to stop her before she fulfils her goal."

"What goal?"

"There's a reason she choose Mt Fuji as her base and that's because it's close to Lake Ashi." I frowned.

"What's in Lake Ashi that she wants so badly?" Amaterasu looked me in the eyes.

"The body of the Yamato no Orochi."

"…"

"…"

"…Come again?" I defiantly didn't hear that right.

"I said the body of the Evil Dragon, Yamato n-"

"Alright, you did say that." I rubbed my forehead. "Can you explain why you guys left the body of one of the poisonous dragons ever to exist there?"

"You can blame my brother for that." Amaterasu sighed. "After killing the Evil Dragon and retrieving the Kusanagi no Tsurugi from its body, he was angry to find that its soul escaped. He sealed the Evil Dragon's body at the bottom of Lake Ashi and had Priest Mangan look after the body so it can never revive."

"Hold on." I was confused. "Evil Dragons can reform their bodies after a certain amount of time if their souls are intact, right?"

"That's correct."

"Then, if the Yamato no Orochi's soul escaped then isn't it a matter of time until it reforms itself?"

"Evil Dragon's can reform their bodies after dying, that is true. But there are 2 conditions they need to meet. A portion of their souls needs to remain intact and their body must be completely dispersed."

"Dispersed?"

"Dragons are beings made up of large masses of energy. That's why they are so prominent and immortal, they are power given form." I nodded along to Amaterasu's description. "When a Dragon dies, their soul flies out and their body disperse back into the formless energy they were once created from." My eyes widened.

"Oh…that makes a lot of sense actually." It would explain why I never heard of weapons made of Dragon parts or the fact there doesn't seem to be Dragon graves anywhere. "So Susanoo sealed its body to stop it from dispersing?"

"Yes and Mangan's current descendant, Sangan, guards the body but the odds of him keeping it safe are slim."

"So why don't you send some strong reinforcements or better yet, just go down there yourself and put it somewhere really safe." Amaterasu sighed again.

"That would be because Hakone is Susanoo's territory and he's too prideful to admit his decision was stupid. He'll leave the protection of the body to Sangan to save face."

"…Who gives a shit about that!? Just go down there and get the damn thing!"

"If I do that then he'll blame Zeth and go pick a fight with the Monster God, pitting the Shinto against him! If I don't then the Yamato no Orochi will be taken by Zeth and Susanoo will go get it! Do you see what I'm getting at here!?"

"Then send in some damn reinforcements!" I got up and practically screamed that.

"I can't! Susanoo won't let anyone help or it will make his decision seem stupid!" Amaterasu also got up.

"It was stupid!"

"I know!"

"You Gods are so damn complicated!"

"I know!"

We were both out of breathe and took a second to recover them. Amaterasu started chuckling which turned into outright laughter. I watched the Sun Goddess laugh her ass off.

"W-why the hell are you laughing?"

"Because that was actually kind of fun." She wiped a tear from her eye. "It's been quite a long time since I've gotten into a screaming match with someone. It was a novel experience." I deadpanned.

'Issei draws powerful allies and enemies while I draw in weird people…actually I think I'm fine with that.' I rubbed my face and fell into thought. I can't really blame Amaterasu for her chose of actions. It's just like how Odin didn't lock up Loki until he tried to start Ragnarok or why Azazel didn't imprison Kokabiel until he actually attacked Kuoh. She doesn't want to lock up Susanoo for something he "might" do (even though the evidence clearly shows he will). It doesn't help that the legends were true and the storm God really is a problem child.

"Well, I'll tell the team and we'll try to stop Shiruku from getting its body."

"Thank you."

I nodded and motioned to get up but Amaterasu stopped me by grabbing my arm.

"What? Is there something else?" I watched as she waved her hand and chess board appeared on the table. I stared at the board game. "D-do you want to play?" She nodded her head.

"…Didn't you say you had to run Shinto Heaven?" Amaterasu started sweating and avoided looking me in the eyes.

"I-I don't remember saying that…" I narrowed my eyes at the Sun Goddess

"Yeah you did."

"W-well, they can survive one hour without me. H-how about a quick game of chess?"

"…Yeah, I think I'll just-" I tried to stand up.

"No wait please don't go!" But Amaterasu latched onto my leg. "Please, just one game! I don't want to go back to work! This is my first real break in years! Do you have any idea what it's like having an incredibly high maintenance assistant and dealing with all the problems the Shinto Gods cause!? It's a nightmare! Please, I don't want to back! Just play one ga-"

"Alright, alright! I'll play, I'll play! Get off my leg already!" Having a very gorgeous (and full if I was feeling right) Goddess on my leg was every straight man's fantasy but if I was being honest? Seeing her like this was kind of pathetic. She quickly got back in her seat and smiled at me as I sat back down.

"Umm." I had one problem to make clear. "I never really learned to play ches-"

"That's okay! I have other games, which do you want to do Karuta or Backgammon?" I stared as Amaterasu held up the mentioned games and sighed.

"…Just one game." I grabbed the cards of Karuta.

* * *

**1 Hour Later, Offering Hall**

"…He's still like that?" Yukina came back from taking a shower and was shocked that Yukan's friend was still there.

"Yeah, he hasn't moved all this time…should we call someone?" Yukan was concerned over Pierce's lack of response.

"Maybe…hey about we-"

"That's complete utter bullshit!" Yukan and Yukina jumped as I came to and screamed at the top of my lungs. "No I refuse! That's not possible, she even gave me a handicap and I still-"

"Pierce-san?" I snapped my neck to Yukan who looked nervous. "A-are you okay?" I blinked than sighed.

"Yeah it's just…I really hate card games." Boy did that confuse the young priest. "Don't worry about it, what I missed?"

"Umm, nothing really. I need to go meet with Priest Sangan for my daily lessons."

"Oh then don't let me keep you, I know the way back." Yukan nodded at my words and turned to Yukina.

"I-I'll see you later Yukina-san."

"Can you really not come with me? You can miss one lesson and we can even go to that waterfall you found!"

"I-I really wish I could but sensei Sangan doesn't like it when I miss a lesson. Maybe next time okay?" Yukina became dejected at Yukan's answer.

"Oh….okay then, next time…" We watched as Yukina walked away, her back looked pretty lonely. Yukan sighed and turned to walk away…right where my disappointed face was.

"Whoa!" He jumped back away. "W-what!?"

"You mind explaining that?" I pointed where Yukina left. Yukan gained a hard face.

"It's none of your business."

"You're goddamn right it isn't!" Yukan looked confused at my irrational outburst. I just felt like yelling today. "But I am curious, if you like the girl so much why did you say no to a date?"

"I-its complicated."

"Story of my life but let's uncomplicate it shall we?" Yukan stared at me before sighing.

"…It's her father."

"Aaahhh I see." I nodded my head sagely. "It's the old boy like's girl, girl likes boy, fathers a self righteous dick that thinks boy isn't good enough for girl. Yes my child, I have seen this before."

"R-really?"

"Yes and I know the way to get past it!" I placed both hands on Yukan's shoulders. "First you go to that waterfall and mediate next it!"

"Mediate?"

"Yes! And then you come to the realization that you need to fight for love!"

"F-fight? I don't know ab-"

"It's the only way! Do you want to be together with her!?"

"Y-yes?"

"Is that a question?!"

"Yes!"

"Good! Women like a man with confidence! And so you'll train and after months of blood, sweat, and tears you will face Yukina's father in trial by combat and win her hand!"

"Yes!" Yukan looked fired up.

"Yes what?!"

"Yes Sensei!"

"Go! Go and make me proud!" Yukan turned and ran away, a fire burning bright in his eyes. I wiped a tear seeing my pupil's drive and soon he was gone.

"…"

"…"

"…Wait a minute." I frowned once I saw he wasn't coming back. 'H-he didn't take me seriously did he?' I activated Chi Vision. 'No way, he was just playing along. There's no one that gullib- holy shit he's really hauling ass!' Yukan was already deep in the forest and didn't look to be stopping. Any other time I would count my blessings finding someone so gullible but when there's a crazy spider Yokai out there eating people? I quickly channeled Chi into my legs and ran to get the young priest. It took about 20 minutes to explain that was I joking.

* * *

**Hideout in Hakone**

"The Yamato no Orochi is in Lake Ashi?" Adrian was shocked at the new information. I nodded.

"That's what Shiruku is here for. She's planning on attacking the Shrine since it holds the key to the body."

"There were rumors that Susanoo sealed the body somewhere in Japan after the fight, but no one knew where though." Maven said.

"Well we can't let Shiruku get it." Melissa spoke up from the coach. "Who knows what she plans to do with it? Zeth may find a way to revive it or experiment with it."

"Maybe Shiruku will feed the Dragon's corpse to her children and make an army of super spiders that can spit deadly poison and are dozens of feet tall, ooh with scale like skin so they are really hard to kill." Samantha said this with a serious face and we all stared at her. She innocently tilted her head. "What? I thought we were giving ideas."

"Regardless, we're not going to let her get it. We'll try to talk to Priest Sangan and protect him when Shiruku comes." Adrian looked at me. "But I got to ask, how did you figure this out?"

"Oh, I prayed at a Shinto Shrine in town and Amaterasu took me to her astral plane. She told me about Shiruku's plan and then we played some Karuta. I won."

"…"

"…"

"…Alright then. Pierce, Maven, and I will meet with Priest Sangan tomorrow. We will try to-"

"Now hold on!" Sophia got up and pointed at me. "Y-you're just going to believe that without question!? There's no way he can meet the Chief Goddess that easily…

"That's what I said!"

"…And yet you thought about it for a second before believing him!?" Adrian sighed and rubbed his face at Sophia's quite reasonable outburst.

"Of course I have questions about the validity of Pierce's statement. But all things considered…Pierce is way too weird to be a liar. He'd much rather mess with you by telling the truth than anything else."

"Oh Adrian…you know me so well!" This is true friendship right here ladies and gentlemen. Adrian deadpanned.

"See what I mean?"

"…You should still look into this before deciding…" Sophia sat back down and sighed.

"You are right." Adrian nodded and looked to me. "Did Lady Amaterasu give you something to show Priest Sangan?" My smile must have been something by the cautious look he gave me. "Pierce…what did you do?"

"Oh nothing." I waved his worries away. "Amaterasu sent a message to Sangan, I just need to show him the password."

"Show him?"

"You'll see tomorrow but first." I walked up to Maven. "Do you happen to know any coloring spells?"

"…Huh?"

* * *

**1 Day Later, Hakone Gongen**

We got up early the next day and walked to the Shinto Shrine.

"Oh?" I saw Yukan walking by inside. "Hey Yukan!"

"Pierce-san? It's…nice to see you again."

"…You hesitated there."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Yukan didn't look me in the eye. "So what brings you here? Do you want to show your friends the shrine?"

"Actually we have an appointment with Priest Sangan." Adrian spoke.

"Really?"

"Yep!" I nodded and placed a hand on the young priest's shoulder. "So lead the way!"

Yukan stared at us before shrugging and leading us through the grounds. He told us Priest Sangan was currently in his house wood carving. I tried asking about Yukina and how that was going but he was tight lipped. We passed through the main hall and got to a modest house that had an open patio. A tall Japanese man in loose robes was carving a Qilin out of oak wood on a chair. He had black hair, soft features and was sporting a calm smile. He looked up when we closer to him.

"Hello Yukan-san, who are your guests?" Sangan nodded towards his disciple and gave us curious looks.

"They said they had an appointment with you Sensei." Sangan narrowed his eyes at us once Yukan finished. He's gaze stopped on me and he slowly got up.

"Thank you for bringing them Yukan-san. How about you go practice? Your Fulu strokes can still use some work."

"Yes Sensei." Yukan bowed once more and walked away to his chambers. Sangan placed down the wooden Qilin and stared at me. No one said anything.

"Umm…" Adrian started but Sangan interrupted him

"Don't you have something to give me?"

I smiled and took a step forward. "Tell me Mr. Sangan…" I rubbed my space ring and two beans appeared in my hands. One was red, the other blue. "…Do you believe in dreams?"

Yes, I just went there. Sangan smiled.

"I'd rather face reality."

"Even if that reality isn't what you think it is?" The red bean flew from my hand and into Sangan's.

"Rough freedom is better than a beautiful prison." He ate the bean. "Please come in." Sangan turned around and walked inside. I smiled like a madman as I followed.

"…What?" Maven turned to Adrian who looked equally confused.

"I…really don't care anymore." Adrian's shoulder slumped before walking inside.

"…What?" Poor Maven was still lost.

* * *

**Inside Sangan's House**

Amaterasu explained to Sangan in the astral plane the current situation and we got a plan going. Shiruku won't attack the shrine herself because she's not the confrontational type, she'll most likely sent in one of her slaves. Sangan gave us Taoist Talismans that will allow us to know when the barrier that protects the key is being attacked.

"What is the key exactly?"

"It's the brooch of Kush-nada-hime."

"Who?" I didn't recognize the name.

"The daughter in the old tale." Maven clarified but I was still confused. "You know, the old couples last daughter? Susanoo's wife?" I tilted my head. "Pierce how the hell do you know so much about mythology but not know some basic information!?"

"Hey, I only know what's important to the situation at hand. Anything else in not my problem." I huffed and Maven sighed. "Look if it'll make you feel better after this is over I'll hit the books with you, alright?"

"…Really?" Maven narrowed her eyes and I nodded. She put up her pinky. "Promise?"

I stared down at the finger before scoffing. "Promise." I pinky swore. Maven's face practically lit up.

"Anyway…" Adrian coughed and got back on track. "We'll be around and will back you up the moment things go south."

"Thank you and I'm sorry for the inconvenience. Susanoo-sama can be…"

"A massive pain in the godly ass?"

"…I wouldn't say that." Sangan gave me an odd look.

"An overage man child with a patent for creating messes?"

"…Seriously, let's just move o-"

"An unrealistic douche who will gladly let things go to shit if it means saving his holier than thou atti-" I didn't get to finish as Sangan slapped a Taoist Talisman over my mouth. I tried to take it off but it didn't budge. I tried channeling Chi. I still couldn't remove it. I looked at the Priest.

"…Are you done?" I shook my head. "Then let's keep that on. You can remove when you leave the shrine." Adrian stared at the talisman in wonder then turned to Sangan.

"Can I buy one of those?"

"Hey!" I tried to yell but it only came out as a muffled grunt.

Jokes aside, we were given enough Talismans for everyone to have one. After that, we headed back to the hideout (I actually couldn't take the Mute Talisman off until I stepped through the Torii) and we updated everyone. Now we wait. Again.

* * *

**3 Days Later**

"That one looks like a squirrel." Melissa pointed to a cloud that looked nothing like a squirrel.

"Sure…" Not that I was going to tell her that. "That one looks a bit like a chicken leg." We titled our heads and we could kind of see it.

"I guess, it kind of looks like a snake to me." I stared at Melissa.

"…Melissa I get your bored but stop butchering my cloud game." She groaned in annoyance and laid back on my chest.

"I'm just so over this!" Melissa and I were on a high hill overlooking Hakone. 3 days passed with nothing from Shiruku; I get she has patience but at this point it is no longer a virtue. Melissa flipped over and faced me, her voluptuous body pressing against mine.

"You want to make out?" Classy.

"Hell yeah!" Though I really didn't care.

Melissa's soft lips pressed against mine and I naturally responded. I've been mainly spending time with her the last couple of days, going on dates or just talking about her hometown. Most times ended up right where we are and lately she's been anxious for some reason.

'I should probably stop and ask her about that…in a minute.' My hands roamed my Yokai girlfriend's body and the small hitches in breath showed she enjoyed the way I rubbed her thighs and back. I found out from Melissa that the Chi Massage I self learned was actually a technique from Bouchujutsu. I used a Chi Art meant for the bedroom on my parents and a portion of my village. Boy was that a weird revelation. Melissa's hands went into my shirt and stared caressing my torso. Do you know what it feels like when a very beautiful leopard woman touches your body and purrs in delight? Yeah, your confidence shoots through the roof. Though I quickly noticed that she wasn't stopping and was working on taking off my belt, I frowned.

"Melissa." She started pulling down. "Melissa." She stopped when I put my hand on her shoulder and looked up at me.

"What? What's the problem?"

"The problem would that you want to strip me in the middle of the forest." I pulled up my pants. "The striping I have no problem with, it's more the fact that we might at any minute fight a crazy spider lady and her brainwashed yes men." Melissa got quiet once I finished.

"…I'm sorry." I frowned and touched her cheek.

"Hey, there's no reason to be sorry. It's nothing you did; I just don't want to tempt the universal anime law where the good guy get's cock blocked."

"…"

'Huh, I thought for sure that would get a "what" out of her.' I looked at Melissa in worry. "Melissa, is something wrong?" Melissa didn't respond until much later.

"I-I just don't want to die with regrets."

"Is that what this is about? It's normal to be afraid, hell it's healthy even and it makes you appreciate life a lot more!" I know I appreciate life a lot more after every brush with death. "But you shouldn't rush what we have just so you don't regret it later. I'm not going anywhere so you don't have to jump into anything, alright?" If I die then my mom will personally go to the Underworld and kick my ass.

"…You promise?" Melissa looked at me with hopeful eyes

"I promise." I smiled before sighing dramatically. "But…

"But?" She tilted her head in confusion.

…If you really can't wait then…I guess I'll just have to take one for the team and give myself up. For the good of the team of course!" Melissa gave me a weird look before snorting and giving me a deep kiss.

"You're an idiot." She smirked before fiddling with my belt.

"Melissa…" I moved to stop her but she slapped my hand away.

"Oh relax, your right I'm not ready to go all the way but…" My pants were fully off now. "…I do know another way to pass the time."

"Oh real-" Then her soft hand firmly grasped.

"Really." Then she lowered her head.

* * *

**1 Hour Later, Hide out in Hakone**

We walked into the hideout to see our leader and resident mage in the living room. Adrian was taking a nap on the couch and Maven was writing down something in a scroll.

"Hey, how was your dat-" The mage stopped and stared at us. "…Do I want to ask?" Both of our faces were flushed and we coughed under Maven's gaze.

"Umm, I'll just…yeah." Melissa retreated into her room and closed the door. Maven looked to me.

"…I plead the Fifth." Then I walked into my room, ignoring Maven's faint "What?"

* * *

'It's been a long time since I've come in here.' I looked around at the black space; nothing could be seen beside the massive glowing ball in the center. I walked up to my source of Chi and ran my hand over the surface; it rippled like water but none of it rushed into me like all those years ago. Melissa told me a long time ago that this was my Bridge, a place where you can see you're life-force and channel it to do many natural yet unnatural things. Everyone's Bridge was different; Melissa's was actually the room she learned to channel her Chi. When I asked Athena what her Bridge was, she said it was the mountain top where Sun Wukong trained her. The reason it was called a Bridge was because everyone had life-force within them but you needed to "build the bridge" to access it. No matter how much energy you have if you don't spiritually connect to your life force (either by hardcore physical training or meditation) then it will just sit there. Though all things considered, both Melissa and Athena had no idea why my Bridge was an empty black void. Athena tried looking into the God's archives but there was nothing about my Bridge there.

'Oh well, I'll probably figure it out one day.' I looked at my Chi source, it was twice as big now and it actually wasn't shining as bright. It looked tamer and I could move the house sized orb of life-force (granted in the void, there wasn't anywhere to go but it was still cool). 'I wonder how my life would have turned out if I didn't unintentionally mediate and built my bridge.' I probably would have stayed in my small town, doing farm work like my dad or be a seamstress like my mom. I wouldn't have met the party and I would have lived an ordinary life.

'Then again being a 22 year old reincarnate blew any chance I had a being normal so, yeah.' I snorted and came back to reality. Just in time for Adrian to walk in. His face was serious. I looked down at my Talisman but it wasn't sending an alarm. "What happened?"

"Come outside." Adrian walked out and I followed along. We passed the living room and we went through the open front door. Everyone was outside and looking at the sky. It was a purplish red and it covered the entire town.

"...That's a big Battle Barrier." Everyone nodded and we saw Maven fly back from somewhere.

"I teleported everyone in town somewhere safe. They won't get caught in the fight."

"Good work." Adrian nodded and soon the rumbling began. A literal army of spiders started coming into town and in the sky I could see 2 figures flying. One had black wings, the other had draconic wings.

"Well that's poetic." I sighed as Sophia got out her wings and flew up. Adrian nodded to Maven who followed along with Damian.

"Not the confrontational type huh?" Vargas had his bastard sword out and smirked in my direction. I sighed.

"I really should stop making sense of supernatural people." The spiders were slowly making their way to the shrine. We couldn't let that happen.

"Pierce and Aindrea, you guys stop the infantry. Samantha, Melissa, and Vargas you 2 go to the shrine and make sure no one gets through. Contact us if it gets too much. I'll-" A large boom was heard as we looked over, Sophia was lying in a large crater before getting up and flying back. We looked up to see Simon had transformed into a large red dragon and was fighting Maven and Damian. Yeqon on the other hand…

"Move!" I activated Touki and jumped back with everyone. Dozens of man sized light spears landed where we just were. We looked up and saw the Fallen Angel was getting ready for the next volley.

"I'll deal with him." Adrian shined in sunlight and he slowly started to float. I looked at him in shock.

"You can fly!?" Adrian seemed confused by my outburst.

"Yeah I can, what's the problem?"

"Why haven't you done so before!?"

"When have I ever needed to?" I blinked remembering all of our past fights.

"…Fair enough."

More light spears started coming down but Samantha created a barrier to stop them. Adrian nodded to us. "Good luck." We nodded back as he flew up. Aindrea and I ran to town center while Adrian clashed with Yeqon. When I activated Chi Vision, it was like seeing a bright sun and a tainted light clashing. It kind of hurt to look at them. We took less than a minute to get to the battlefield.

"Holy shit…" Actually, battlefield may be the wrong word for it. Every building was destroyed and the forest just kept spawning more giant spiders.

"Scared?" Aindrea had his spear resting on his shoulder and smirked.

"I…I don't think scared is the word. Maybe disgusted? Confused?" I was being honest. I was scared fighting the Tyrant, I was enraged fighting Naizer, and the Basilisk was just plain stupid. I knew if it came down to it I had the stamina and the strength to rip all these spiders to mash but…I looked at the shrine. "Why is Shiruku doing this? Why not go for the stealth approach like she always does?" Aindrea shrugged.

"Maybe she got over it. Maybe she's trying to take us out along with getting the key. Or maybe she's just bored." Aindrea pierced a spider that got close and tossed it back. "Regardless, we got a job to do and that job involves kicking giant spider ass. Now are you going to join me or am I going to have do your job?" I stared at the Demigod before getting my sword out.

"…Aindrea, this may be the start of a beautiful friendship!" He snorted.

"Bite me."

"Actually, I think that's their job." I pointed to the charging spiders. We looked at each other before feral smiles appeared on our faces.

Then we charged.

* * *

And done. All that stuff about the Great War was my theory on the bigger timeline and I think it makes the most sense. I mean there were Billions of Angels, Fallen Angels, and Devils that died in the war. 1,400 years to races that live for 10,000 years seems like a reasonable length of time to lose that many. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	17. Chapter 16

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Sakra95**: Maybe, I'll think on it but the Old Satan Faction are too proud of their Devil lineage to take help even from a God. I have an idea on how Pierce will get a really cool mythical weapon and I think it's pretty original.

**DahakStaz:** Thank you for the passionate review and I actually thought about that before you mentioned it. It was a bit different but our ideas are pretty much the same. There are a couple of races I plan to have run certain parts of the Mercenary Association, I hope you like them.

* * *

**Chapter 16: A Snake, a Spider, and a Crow walk into a Shrine**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but if I ever do I'll get a publisher that will allow Echi. I own the OCs and I won't let my SI get blue balled, I got your back brother!

* * *

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - "_**Jumon"**_

* * *

**Hakone**

"This is taking bug squashing to new levels!" I yelled as I punched one spider to pieces and slicing another in half. I Chi Burst throughout the crowd, killing spiders in waves. "Though I am curious!"

"What about!?" Aindrea asked as he pierced through an armored spider and crushed a green one under his foot. He sent out illusion spears that pierced trough dozens of spiders at a time.

"Are these really Shiruku's children or does she call them that just because they're also spiders!?" I jumped high in the air, kneeing two spiders in the process, and created 6 Chi Swords. They flew around slicing and cutting up every spider that was in their path.

"Hell if I know!" Aindrea yelled as he picked up one spider and threw it towards a group. The poisonous spider exploded and sprayed its poison all over its brethren. "Though what you think about in moments like this is really weird Pierce!"

"Thank you! It's a gift!" I smiled as I landed back on the ground and cut every spider around me to pieces. Aindrea and I have been fighting for the past 20 minutes but the spiders seemed to be endless. Thankfully, for a stamina freak like me and a battle crazy Demigod like Aindrea this was our kind of work.

"**_Equus Belli!_****"** Illusionary war horses with soldiers on them appeared on the battlefield. They charged forward and trampled on the spiders as they ran. I scoffed.

"Show off." Aindrea looked smug.

I would create a Chi Animal to ride but my control wasn't good enough to make one that could take on these spiders. 'One day I'm riding a Chi Tyrant into battle, no question!' I idly thought this as I Chi Burst from my position, a ball of fire landing and exploded there. I looked over to see a huge spider with literal flames for fur.

"…Okay, I'll admit it, that's pretty cool." The fire spider kept shooting large balls of fire and I zigzagged, dodging all of them. The ones that missed actually hit the other spiders and spread fire that was killing even more. After running a bit more to spread the chaos, I stopped and Chi Burst right next to the flaming spider. I jumped on its head and looked it right in its multiple flaming eyes. "I have no idea how you work but see ya!" I slammed down on the head and destroyed its brain with Seismic Fist. I jumped off and the large spider came crashing down, picking up a bit of dust on impact. I cut the surrounding spiders that seemed shocked from my kill and body checked an armored spider into what I believe is old man Samisen's house. I'll admit it; I had an evil smirk on my face.

"Hey Aindrea-" I quickly put my sword up and blocked a black spider limb. The spider limb was attached to the back of the spider maiden, Yua.

"Hi." Yua smiled before jumping back and avoiding a Chi Sword that tried to skewer her side. I clicked my tongue. "Aww, don't tell me you're still holding a grudge? Ladies don't like petty men you kn-"

"Lady, you are no lady!" I swung down on her but she just dodged to the side. I kicked aside her clawed hand and punched her right in the face, sending her flying into a house. She didn't get up.

'That was too easy…' I frowned and walked up to the destroyed house. The body of Yua was there, face beyond recognition, but it was hollow like a shed exoskeleton.

"Hasn't your mother told it's rude to interrupt a lady?" I looked up and saw Yua smiling down from the top of a house.

"Not if that lady is a homicidal spider woman that wants to rape and kill me." Yua laughed at my comeback.

"Well, you're not wrong about that." Yua said this as black spider limbs popped out of her torso, her skin blackened and a symbol appeared on her forehead. It was a double red diamond, like a black widow. I put the pieces together.

"…Man, I pity the dudes that got into bed with her." I heard some chuckling behind me and turned around to see another Yua but this one had bright red spider limbs.

"Please, it was the best night of their lives…then again; they didn't live long enough for it to be topped but whatever." Yua number 2 said as another came out and this one had blue spider limbs.

"And we'll make it your best night ever as well…" They said this all at the same time with the same crazy smile.

"…I'm going to kill you all now." I Chi Burst to Red Yua (let's just call them by their color) and tried to pierce her with my sword but a large ice barrier got in the way. I pulled my sword out and crouched, dodging the stream of flames Red Yua shot at me. I turned around and blocked Black Yua's fist with my forearm. That was a mistake.

"Arghhh!" I was flung back by the unexpected strength and skidded across the ground. My Chi healed the large bruise on my arm (her punch actually got through my Touki) and I sliced the large ice pike shot at me into two. I dodged to the right as Black Yua landed where I was standing and a crater appeared where she landed. I hit her with a Seismic Fist to the shoulder but she soldiered through and punched me in the gut, knocking the wind out of me. I was kicked in the head and flew right through a nearby wall. I quickly got up and dodged the spider limb that tried to skewer my head. I grabbed it and sliced it right off, Black Yua screamed in pain.

"Aahhhh! You little shi-" I sliced at her face and she dodged back, barely avoiding my blade. A faint cut appeared over her nose and I tried to cut her again. She kept dodging all my swipes and I parried her 3 remaining spider limbs when they tried to pierce me. I cut off another spider limb and kicked her to the ground. I moved to finish her but I had to jump back to avoid a fire ball.

"Mind if we join in?" Blue Yua spoke in a sultry voice and shot a large ice spear at me. I met it with my own Chi Spear and they clashed, exploding in a flurry of white and blue. Red Yua sent a volley of mini flames and I Chi Burst through all of them. I closed in on her but Black Yua got her second wind and sent a flying kick to my head. I grabbed the leg and swung her hard on the ground. I kicked her away and sliced the large fire snake that tried to bite me. Sadly, I couldn't block the ice wave that froze my leg solid. Ignoring the biting frost, I smashed the ice to pieces and sent Chi Swords toward Blue Yua but she blocked them with an ice barrier.

"Getting tired?" Red Yua smiled as flame hounds encircled me and I was breathing a little hard. I blinked before smiling. "And what's that face for?" Red Yua frowned.

"Nothing just…" I looked at her feet. "…I'm surprised you can be stealthy."

"What the hell are you-aahhhhhhh!" A spear pierced Red Yua's heart and she was lifted into the air. The other 2 Yua's looked shocked as the air behind her warped and a confused Aindrea appeared.

"How did you know it was me?"

"You're stepping in a puddle." I pointed at the puddle his foot was in. Aindrea hide himself with illusion magic so I couldn't sense him but I could still see his steps. What else is going to happen when someone steps behind you in a fight?

"You fucker!" Black Yua lunged at Aindrea but the Demigod just smacked her with his spear and sent her flying. Blue Yua formed hundreds of ice daggers and sent them hurdling towards us. Aindrea waved his hand and a huge Spartan shield appeared in front of us, blocking all the daggers.

"Where were you?" I asked as my Chi worked on healing my frosted nerves. 'Times like this makes me regret not learning Healing Magic.' Chi could take care of any injury, but sometimes magic based wounds heal faster with magic based healing.

"I was doing my job." Aindrea snorted.

"…You were riding around on your illusionary horse weren't you?" I deadpanned and Aindrea stuttered.

"S-so what!? I took out a lot of the spiders that way!" I shook my head at the Demigod's defense and stood up. My leg was mostly fine.

"Arghhh!" Black Yua punched the Spartan shield and it shattered. I quickly charged at her and kicked her right in the face. A shockwave rang out as she flew back and left a long dirt trail. I Chi Burst to her and swung down; she caught my blade between her palms and struggled to hold it back. Blue Yua tried to send another ice wave at me but Aindrea blocked it with his Spartan shield.

"I'll kill you for this!" She snarled at me in hatred

"Oh yeah? Well I don't give a shit!" I activated Sword Fury and pushed down. I sliced the spider maiden right down the middle, the huge blade of Chi cutting into the ground leaving a deep scar. Black Yua was cleanly cut in two and I looked up only for a large ice wall to appear. Aindrea charged forward and smashed the blue wall to pieces but Blue Yua was nowhere in sight. I activated Chi Vision but I couldn't find her anywhere.

"Of fucking course." I sighed and looked at Aindrea. "We better go." He nodded and followed after me.

We walked through the destroyed town center and we were quickly swarmed with more giant spiders. We got back to work mowing them down, stopping what we could from getting close to the shrine. The battle in the sky was getting more and more intense, especially Adrian's fight since multiple house sized light spears landed on the ground. After piercing my sword in the face of another elemental spider (this one shot lightning at me), the rumbling started.

"What the hell is that!?" I yelled as I held a giant spider in place before cutting its head off. I tossed the spider's corpse aside and looked around.

"Looks like the cavalry arrived…" Aindrea said this and a massive spider dug out the ground. It was easily 10 meters tall and had armored skin just like the smaller ones. It hissed and hundreds of spiders came through the hole it made, they got into formation like a regular human army.

"Oh wonderful…" I groaned and stood next to Aindrea. "You got any advice?"

"Don't get surrounded and try to separate them, they make up for their individual weakness by moving together."

"Got it." I nodded and the spider's charged. The 10 meter tall spider smashed down on us and we dived to opposite sides. The smaller spiders swarmed me and I cut the 3 in a row. I jumped back when the Behemoth Spider (let's call just him that) smashed down on me. I cut at the massive spider limb but all I got was a faint ting.

"I'm really starting to hate that sound!" I groaned and Chi Burst to the side, slicing up another 4 spiders before jumping back again. The battle kept going like this as even Aindrea's magic couldn't pierce the Behemoth Spider's thick hide. I cut the last spider and looked up at the raging leader. We couldn't land a fatal blow because the armor covered everyth-

'Wait a minute…' I dodged another hit and looked at the Behemoth's joints. They weren't covered. "Aindrea, the joint's!" The Demigod looked at the spider's limbs before nodding. We both charged and that must have pissed it off by the way it opened its mouth and a magic circle appeared. Golden webs shot out the magic circle and covered us, holding us in place.

"Really!? Even this thing knows magic!?" I ripped off a section of the webs but that wasn't enough as the Behemoth Spider winded back a limb. "Oh shi-" The massive appendage hit the left side of my body and a boom rang out. "Argghhhhh!" I screamed in pain as my ribs cracked a little and my shoulder blade gave a faint pop. I was sent flying through multiple houses and ended up somewhere near the edge of town. I spit out some blood and gritted my teeth before popping my shoulder back in place; my Chi started healing the torn muscle. 'Fuck this! I'm so learning magic after this shitshow!' I laid there for a minute, allowing the pain to subside before getting up and running back to the battlefield. I saw Aindrea had already pierced a joint and the Behemoth was having trouble keeping its balance. I jumped over another web spell and cut another joint of the spider. It hissed in pain and winded back to swipe but I didn't let it. I made multiple Chi Swords and sent them right into its eyes. It roared in pain and I used the moment to completely cut off its limb. Aindrea did the same on the other side and the Behemoth couldn't stand with the lost of two limbs so it fell down. I stood next to the head and lifted my sword. I stabbed down on the spider's eye and I sent my Chi inside through the sword. It ripped apart the inside and the Behemoth spasmed before it stopped moving all together.

"Finally." I sighed as I pulled out my sword. I looked around and saw there were no more spiders. "I guess we should head to the shrine no-" The ground rumbled once more. "Oh fuck me…" Another Behemoth Spider dug out the ground and brought along even more spiders. "Please tell me that's the last one…"

"Actually, there was one more when we escaped." Aindrea summoned more illusionary spears.

"Great…" I sighed and rubbed my face. "Well, it's not like it can worse-"A massive boom was heard and a cloud of dust picked up in front of us. Once it cleared, Aindrea and I watched as the Dragonified Simon got up from the massive crater, the Behemoth Spider and its legion completely crushed. He shook his head and looked over to us. He looked pissed.

"…Pierce."

"…Yeah?"

"Shut up." Then Simon breathed fire in our direction.

* * *

**Hakone Gongen**

"Heads up!" Vargas tossed a green spider over Melissa and it exploded on the group she was fighting.

"Thanks!" Melissa said before she waved her hand and shadow tendrils wrapped around the spiders, squeezing them flat. Leopard ears appeared on her head and a tail popped out of her tailbone. She sank into her shadow and appeared under an armored spider. She stabbed the soft under belly before retreating back into the shadow. Melissa moved from shadow to shadow, swiftly killing many spiders and even sent her shadow hounds out to cause havoc. The reason she didn't use this form against Froid was because vampires had an inherent ability to control shadows and in her Yokai form, Froid could have easily countered her.

**"****_Praesidio Muros._****" **Samantha chanted and a yellow barrier stopped the new wave of spiders. Vargas summoned his holy knights and they got to work cutting up all the spiders. Pierce and Aindrea had the majority of the spiders focused on them but some still got through the net and attacked the shrine. Vargas cut up another flame spider before he felt the ground rumble and he looked at the entrance. A Behemoth Spider entered the shrine and smashed right through the yellow barrier. Samantha put smaller barriers to slow down the tide but the spider hoards were quickly gaining ground.

"**_Spiritus Cu-_****" **Vargas tried to summon his Templar avatar but he stopped as the Komainu on the entrance of the shrine moved. They grew in size, becoming 5 meters tall, and leaped on the massive spider. They bit into its steel like hide and grappled with it, not allowing it to go any further. "What the?"

"Vargas-san!?" A voice rang out and Vargas turned to see Yukan in ceremonial priest robes.

"Yukan? What are you doing here?" Vargas was confused as to why the young priest was here.

"Priest Sangan told me that the Jorogumo will attack the shrine and that I needed to protect it." Yukan explained as he took a Taoist Talisman and tossed it in the air. The Talisman exploded and white flames incinerated dozens of spiders.

"Wait, you know about Shiruku? Then why did you act like you didn't?" Vargas went back to fighting and asked as he punched spider.

"I didn't know you were part of the supernatural world. I just thought you and Pierce-san were regular men following some rumor." Yukan took out more Taoist Talisman's and tossed them, these became lightning hounds that blitzed through the spiders.

"Ha! That's actually funny because we thought the same about you!" Vargas picked up a large rock and threw it at the spiders, clearing a path. His sword glowed in yellow light and he ran forward plunging it right into the mouth of the Behemoth Spider who was held down by the 2 Komainu.

"Where is Priest Sangan?" Samantha asked as she healed a spider bite on Melissa.

"He's-" Yukan didn't get to finish as he jumped to the side, avoiding a purple mist. They looked at the entrance of the shrine. Lady Shiruku in her normal form walked up and looked around at the party. She sighed.

"Pests. They truly are everywhere." Vargas pointed his sword at her and glared.

"I wonder if you'll say that once I cut off that head."

"Is that the best you got?" Shiruku laughed and waved her hand. Dozens of large Youjutsu spells appeared in the air. Countless spiders fell out and poison mist filled the air.

"I would appreciate it if you didn't pollute my shrine with that filth." Sanga's voice rang out and a large Taoist symbol appeared in the air. A golden wave spread out and the mist was pushed back. A bolt of golden lightning shot at Shiruku but Jason appeared in front of her, the bolt hitting his shoulder. A Golden Fleece covered his shoulder and the golden bolt was absorbed by it. "Oh? The Golden Fleece from legends?" Sangan floated in the sky, he was wearing ceremonial Priest robes with light armor over it.

"…Am I the only one that thinks he waited for dramatic effect?" Melissa whispered to the others and they all nodded along.

"I can hear you." Sangan deadpanned and lowered to the ground next to everyone else. Shiruku's spiders surrounded them and she walked up with Jason.

"I'm going to make this real simple." Shiruku outstretched her hand. "Give me the key to the brooch of Kush-nada-hime and you all get live." Susanoo was many things (some good, most stupid), but even he knew to cover all his bases. Just like he sealed the Evil Dragon's corpse, he also put protection on the key. The seals on the key weren't as strong but Shiruku would still have her fair share of headaches getting through them. Sangan shook his head.

"Over my dead body."

"If you insist." Shiruku shrugged and morphed into her half spider form. "Leave the Priest alive, the rest…try not to break them too much."

"No promises." Jason took out his sword and looked lustfully at the Yokai and healer.

"…Oh I'm killing him first." Vargas summoned his Templar Avatar and even more holy knights.

Everyone stood still, waiting for someone to start off the fight. A roar rang out in the distance and the spider's charged. Shiruku drew a large Youjutsu spell that shot green flames and Sangan threw another Talisman at it. The Talisman exploded into red flames and a huge explosion was created. Jason lunged at Samantha but Vargas Templar got in his way, swinging down on the hero's descendant. He dodged to the right and was met with Samantha's barrier.

"_**Donec Inlaqueaverunt**_**_._****" **Samantha's magic circle appeared on her hand and a yellow see-through box entrapped Jason. Vargas' Templar lifted its sword.

"That's cute." Jason snorted and the Golden Fleece shined. Sangan's golden bolt shot out and destroyed the barrier, along with sending the Templar back. Vargas swung at Jason and they clashed blades. Jason parried dozen of Vargas swings and his fleece shone again. A black whirlwind hit Vargas dead on and sent him back. Jason turned around and parried Melissa's dagger. She ducked under his punch and cut him in the ribs. Jason groaned in pain and tried to slash at her but Melissa already retreated into the shadows. Shadow tendrils tried to skewer him and he jumped back, dodging every single one. Vargas charged at him again but a golden light stopped him. An Orthrus jumped out of the golden light and the two dog heads bit at Vargas.

"**_Sanctus Vincula._****" **Vargas activated another Ode and white chains wrapped around the beast's necks. They struggled and Vargas cut at their tough hide, grappling with them. 2 more golden lights appeared and 2 Chimeras joined the fight. "God damn it! Samantha!"

"On it!" The healer put the Orthrus in the same yellow box from earlier and Vargas went to deal with the 2 new beasts.

"Guess it's just you and me sweetheart." Jason walked to Samantha and gave a vibrant smile. The healer smiled back.

"I wouldn't touch you even if we were the last humans on Earth, Heaven, Hell, and every mythological world out there." Jason blinked at the completely honest look on Samantha's face.

"…Now that's just mea-" Jason blocked Melissa's daggers and jumped back when Samantha tried to trap him again. "Can't we just talk about this over some coffee?"

"Sure!" Samantha said happily. "I'll do that if you go drown in Lake Ashi and die, deal?" Melissa snorted and Jason looked shocked.

"Samantha, you okay?" Melissa didn't like Jason either (for obvious reasons) but man was the healer really giving it to the hero's descendant.

"Evil handsome men." Samantha said this with conviction.

"…What?"

"Pierce was right." Samantha waved her hand and magic circles appeared around her. "The world must be saved from evil handsome men!"

"…"

"…"

'…Pierce meeting Samantha must have been the weirdest thing to ever happen.'

* * *

**Same Time, Underworld**

"!" A tall man with black hair and a goatee looked up. The man faced a random direction and said faintly. "Challenge accepted…" The man blinked and rubbed his chin. 'Why did I just say that?' The tall man didn't get much time to think on it as he was pulled by the ear.

"Azazel, stop stalling and come on! The meeting is about to start!" His silver haired companion scolded the Grigori leader and led him to the meeting room.

"No wait Shemhazai, you don't understand! Something's happening and I have to find out wh-" Azazel whined but was interrupted by the glare Shemhazai gave him.

"Bullshit! You just want to go back to your lab and mess around! Kokabiel wants to use the Devil's current political scene to cause another war, we've got to stop him!" Shemhazai explained as he dragged the Governor.

"Urghhhh…What else is new?" Azazel grumbled and looked back in the direction the feeling came from. 'One day. One day I'll understand and it will be great! I can feel it! Hahahahahahha!' Azazel laughed manically and Shemhazai looked at him in exhaustion.

'Why did I fall with this idiot again?' Cause he was a closet pervert. '…Eh, still worth it.' Then they walked into the meeting hall.

* * *

**Hakone Gongen**

'…Why do I feel like I just made a horrible mistake?' Melissa shivered and looked around but found nothing (beside the chaotic battle happening). Jason chose this moment to sigh and spoke up.

"It's truly a shame, I was hoping to avoid injuring both of you but it seems like I have no choice."

"That's quite the confidence you have there." Melissa narrowed her eyes when Jason snorted.

"Against two maidens? I just didn't want to appear boorish."

"…There are so many things wrong with what you just said but I don't feel like getting into to it." Melissa activated Touki and closed her eyes. All the shadows in the area surged towards her and covered her daggers. The shadows morphed into large blades and Melissa said faintly. **"Kamaitachi"** Jason wasn't impressed. "Let me show you how a "maiden" fights."

"Shadow blades? That's not quite origin-" Jason quickly lifted his sword to block Melissa's blade and a loud clang was heard as he was pushed far back. He looked in shock as his sword had a large cut in it. "You little bit-" Jason didn't get to finish as he puked blood and looked down. There was a deep cut on his chest but he couldn't feel a thing. "How?"

"_**Praesidium Caelesti Mundi**_**_._****" **Samantha chanted and multiple barriers appeared around Jason, the barriers had thick layers and limited his movement. Melissa walked forward along with her shadow hounds.

"…I make really good coffee." Melissa's hound lunged at Jason retort.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

"Hot! Hot! Hot! God damn it why are you going after me!?" I ran through the destroyed Hakone and Dragon Simon flew after me, breathing bursts of flames at me. Aindrea was close behind, sending his illusionary spears at the Dragon to his attention and failing miserably. I zigzagged as the searing flames brushed by me; they melted the ground they landed on. "If this is about what happened with your sister then…Nope! She started it, I finished it! I regret nothing!" I jumped to the side, Simon landing where I was and shattering the ground as he slid across. I Chi Burst to his face and slashed multiple times, leaving nothing but white marks. I dodged Simon's claw and Aindrea speared the Dragon's snot. Simon roared in pain as little blood spilled from the wound and he hit Aindrea with his tail, a shockwave rang out.

"Arghhh!" Aindrea yelled in pain as he was sent flying and I jumped up, catching him before the Demigod went too far. I send an extra large Chi Spear at the Dragon but he bit it and crushed it to pieces. I charged and slid under Simon's belly, sending a Seismic Fist up. My attack cracked a couple of scales and Simon roared in pain. I moved before the giant claw crushed me and backed up to Aindrea.

"This is going well." I said sarcastically as the broken scales slowly healed. Neither Aindrea or I had the firepower to knock Simon out; not without grievously injuring the guy (I really hate being the good guy sometimes).

"I'm open to ideas." Aindrea kneeled on the ground as the side the tail hit him was slowly healing.

"_**Custodiae Terrae**_**_!_****" **Maven's voice rang out and the earth around Simon shot up, trapping him in a rock box. She levitated down with Sophia, they both had burns with Sophia's arm was all scratched up.

"Where's Damian?" I looked around for the other Devil.

"He took a direct hit from Simon's fire; he'll need a minute to heal before getting back in the fight." Sophia sighed in regret. "I really wish we took those phoenix tears when we had the chance." We heard Simon trying to break out of his containment.

"So, does anyone have a good ide-" Maven was interrupted as a scaly claw ripped through the rock.

"Maven." I looked over at the mage and nodded. "Operation Pierce is a go." Maven deadpanned.

"I'm not calling it that." She lifted her hand nevertheless and 3 magic circles appeared under me. **"****_Ferro Corpus! Ventus Ambulate! Plena Potestate!_****"** Maven hit me with 3 strengthening spells and I immediately felt the difference. My feet felt lighter, my skin felt denser, and when I clenched my fist I could feel the improved power. My Touki also changed from the ever same soothing white to a bright, shiny silver. After what happened in Shiruku's lair, I realized that I needed a new edge against our growing enemies. Maven couldn't teach me magic because we were always on alert and needed to be ready to face Shiruku's attack. So we made a plan for her to hit me with the strengthening spells she knew when there was a tough opponent (she may be a genius but she was more focused on elemental magic then strengthening). Here's the thing about strengthening magic, with it you could give a regular person superhuman strength or speed but doing so will put a strain on their body if they're not trained and their stamina will be used up fast. That's why Sara didn't use that diamond skin all the time and only used it when she really needed it. For a man like me with my enormous Chi reserves and trained body however…

"Banzai!" I yelled as I leaped forward, leaving a crater where I jumped, and I decked Simon right in his scaly cheek when he escaped. A large shockwave rang out and the Dragonifed Simon was sent flying through multiple houses (at this point, I'm doing more damage to the small town then the spiders). Simon roared in pain and was excessively bleeding from his shattered cheek. He got up and glared at my new silver form. Like I said, Maven wasn't well versed in strengthening magic and the spells will only stay for 8 minutes until she does them again. "This will be a fun 8 minutes though." I smiled as Simon punched at me and I took out my sword, coating it with my new silver Chi. Having faster speed now, I dodged the massive blows and my sword cut cleanly into the Dragon hide. I gave multiple deep cuts to Simon which pissed him off even more and a huge magic circle appeared in the air. Huge meteors came out of the magic circle and fell in our direction.

"Not this time!" Sophia flew up and breathed fire at the meteors, incinerating them in a massive blaze. The she Devil dived bombed her brother and clawed at his wings, hurting him further. She dodged his swipe and Maven conjured lightning chains that wrapped around Simon. Taking this chance, Aindrea and I kept attacking the chained down Simon. Aindrea was also hit with strengthening magic and we were slowly wearing Simon down. I dodged a bite and held down his head, plunging my sword into his horn. He screamed in pain and struggled violently, I held on as Maven put even more lightning chains on Simon.

"Any day now Aindrea!" I screamed as my grip was loosening and Aindrea took out multiple Taoist Talisman's . He plastered them all over Simon and after putting the last one down they all glowed, interconnecting like veins. Simon's slowly stopped struggling and his Dragon form got smaller and smaller until he back to normal.

"Did it work?" I gave a cautious look at the prone (and naked) form of Simon lying there. Sangan had Talisman's that can calm and clear one's mind, expelling Shiruku's influence on them. Though he warned that the subject needs to be weakened before the Talisman's effect could work. "Aindrea, go check if it worked."

"W-why me!?" The Demigod looked shocked at my order.

"Because I don't want to." I said with a shrug.

"…Damn you…" Aindrea grumbled and slowly walked up. For a guy who's full of himself, He's surprisingly weak to honest answers. He stood over Simon and kicked him lightly. He kicked him a little harder. He winded his foot back farth-

"Oi! Get your own joke, don't steal mine!" I yelled at Aindrea and he looked back at me in annoyance.

"I wasn't stealing your stupid joke…" He grumbled and nodded at Simon. "He's back to normal." We all walked up and looked down as Simon opened his eyes. They were no longer hazy.

"Sophia?" His voice was rough and he groaned as he sat up. He looked horrified. "I-I'm so sorry. I-I wasn't myself, I didn't mean to-" Sophia pulled her brother into a deep hug and he slowly hugged her back.

"I'm sorry." Sophia softly spoke. "You told me we should have waited, I didn't listen and you ended up like this." She squeezed a little harder. "I'm sorry."

"I can't say I tried all that hard." Simon shook his head bitterly. "I wanted revenge too, I should have been smarter than that." The brother and sister duo sat there hugging, glad they were both okay (besides their obvious injuries).

'Heh and they say Devils don't have hearts…Actually, is that a saying in DxD?' I idly thought this as Aindrea sat down looking mildly exhausted. "You okay?"

"The strengthening spell wore off." The Demigod huffed and gave me a weird look. "Aren't you tired?"

'Oh? It's been 8 minutes already?' I looked down and clenched my fist; the feeling of extra strength wasn't there anymore. 'Time sure flies when you're fighting for your life.' I snorted and rolled my shoulder. "I do feel a little sluggish but it's going away."

"…Chi users and their bullshit stamina." Aindrea grumbled and took out a bottle of water. Maven walked over and told us that she just spoke with Samantha, Shiruku arrived at the shrine. "We better get over there."

"We'll join you as well." Simon spoke up and he had a hard look in his eyes. "Shiruku will pay for what she's done to me."

"Yeah well, you're going to have to give me a minute." Aindrea sighed and stretched his muscles. "Damn it, what spells did you use on me? Everything's sore."

"If you can't handle it then don't try to act tough next time." Maven teased and Aindrea scoffed.

"Like I'll let a human outdo me."

'…Says the guy still on his ass.' I shook my head good naturedly and looked at Maven. "I'll go on ahead. Hit me again."

"Are you sure?" Maven looked at me in worry. "Maybe you should wait a minute." I waved my hand.

"Its fine, they may need help and I'm good to go. Hit me." Maven gave me one more worried look before strengthening me again. I was being truthful when I said that, my Chi already healed my taxed muscles and we couldn't waste time. I activated Touki and it was once again bright silver. I admired my new color and found it very cool. What can I say? I appreciate the small things in life.

'It's been awhile since I've felt such a spike in strength, it feels great!' When I first used Touki all those years ago I felt incredible, being able to do all those things (jumping large distances, crushing rock, and being able to meet a charging boar head on) filled me with immense joy. While the strengthening spell wasn't as impactful as that moment, every large increase in strength was welcome. I nodded to the others. "I'll go on ahead." I then turned and booked it to the shrine.

'Holy shit!' I was shocked as every step I took left a foot indent on the ground and after 1 minute, I could already see the shrine. With my regular Touki I could done the same but I would need to sprint. My current speed could be considered jogging at best and I wasn't even that tired! 'Oh hell yeah am I learning magic after this!' I looked ahead and saw the battlefield; it was oddly quiet as no one moved. A burned and bruised Shiruku was saying something to Priest Sangan while Sara was holding someone. It was a bloody Yukan, the Emissary held up her katana up to his neck. I put the pieces together.

'Well the hero's always fashionable late anyway….except Adrian is fighting Yeqon so he probably won't make it.' I snorted and jumped up on a tree. I crouched on the branch, poured a lot of Chi into my legs, and leaped. A boom rang out as the tree was completely shattered, I streaked across the grounds with my ears popping (did I just break the sound barrier?), and instantly reached Sara. My foot was outstretched.

"Coming in hot!" Then it connected.

* * *

**15 Minutes Earlier, Hakone Gongen**

"Just…die…already!" Vargas held down the Chimera with his foot and plunged his blade into its head, ending its life. He breathed heavily and looked around. Shiruku was facing Sangan, Samantha and Melissa were fighting Jason, and Yukan was crushing the hoard of spiders with the Komainus. 'But where's Sara?' The spirit inheritor long ago noticed the Emissary wasn't here but he didn't get the chance to wonder as Jason smashed through the protection barrier. The hero's descendent looked like hell as multiple deep cuts covered his body and they never stopped bleeding. Melissa's hounds charged at him and his fleece shined, purple flames shot that caused the hounds to back away. Vargas took the chance to cut Jason when his back was turned.

"Arghhhh!" Jason yelled in pain and turned to Vargas in rage. The Golden Fleece shone once more but Vargas sent his holy chains to lock it. "D-damn you!" Jason clashed blades with Vargas and they quickly into sword play. Jason was the better swordsmen but the loss of blood and cuts (even if they gave no pain) hindered his movements. "Aaahhhhh!" Melissa joined the fight and stabbed her daggers into Jason's thighs. He kneeled down and Vargas kicked away his sword.

"You should have stayed with your Emissary." Vargas lifted his sword and rested it on Jason's neck.

"Heh, right and die with the rest like a noble man? Yeah, I took my chances." Jason chuckled before coughing and gave a bloody smile. "If you were looking for an apology then…no. I don't regret it."

"…Fine." Vargas slashed with his sword, cutting Jason's neck and they watched as the hero's descendant slowly died, the smile never leaving his face. Vargas gave a short prayer.

"He doesn't deserve that." Melissa spoke up and Vargas looked at her.

"Every dead enemy is someone that no longer deserves your hate. Let him go in peace." Vargas continued his prayer and Melissa shook her head.

"If you say so…" Melissa said as she watched Samantha walk up. The healer looked down on Jason before reaching down and closing his eyes. "You both are better people then me." Melissa gave a wry smile at her teammate's actions.

"It's not about being better." Samantha shook her head. "We just have more empathy to give, no one can judge how you treat him. That's up to you." She looked to Priest Sangan and Shiruku fighting. "We should help." They all nodded and joined the fray. Samantha used barriers to trap Shiruku, Melissa attacked with her shadow tendrils, and Vargas called back his Templar that was fighting the spiders. Shiruku was more than a little annoyed.

"Arghh! Back off you little pests!" Shiruku yelled in rage as one of Sangan's light spells hit her in the confusion. An extra large Youjutsu spell behind her and large golden spider limbs shot out. They ripped through grounds, destroying everything they came across. Melissa was in the way and she was smacked right into the offering hall. The spiders swarmed her downed form.

"I'll get her!" Vargas dodged the attacking limbs and shot to Melissa. Vargas summoned holy knights to hold off the spiders and picked up Melissa. He ran back to Samantha.

"Thanks…" Melissa heaved as her torso bleed and Samantha got to work healing it. The golden limbs moved to attack again but the Komainu bit one, ripping it apart. Vargas commanded his Templar to hold down the other limbs. Sangan didn't waste this chance.

"**_Aku o Tsuihō Suru!_****" **Taoist symbols appeared around Shiruku and white flames shot at her, burning right through her Youjutsu. Shiruku screamed in pain as Vargas charged at her and slashed at her torso. She caught his blade but she couldn't stop his Templar from kicking her away. She rolled on the ground and Melissa's shadow's ensnared her, stopping her from moving. Shiruku breathed heavily as they all walked up and Sangan took out a Talisman.

"Let's end this." Sangan took a step forward but stopped when Shiruku started smiling. "And why are you smiling? You lost."

"Did I? You human's really don't pay attention do you." Sangan frowned and moved to finish her but she spoke up again. "I wouldn't do that if you want your little apprentice to live." Sangan's widened as he turned around and saw a bloody Yukan being held by Sara.

"I-I'm s-sorry master-" Yukan stopped as Sara pushed her katana a little harder on his neck. Everyone stopped and Shiruku stood up once more, dusting herself off (though that more probably more for theatrics since she had injuries everywhere).

"It's always the same thing with you humans, morality." Shiruku spit out some blood in disgust. "Oh well, it works out for me quite nicely. Now, I'd like that key pleas-" A boom was heard in the distance and shortly after a shockwave. A blur zoomed past the battlefield, heading right for Yukan and Sara.

"Coming in hot!" A yell rang out and foot connected with Sara's side. The impact was so tremendous she was sent flying across the entire shrine and out into the forest. A dust cloud picked up and everyone stood in shock as it slowly cleared, showing the new arrival.

"Yukan? Hey man what's up?! How are things?"

* * *

**Back to the Present**

I looked down at Yukan as he looked back in wonder. He was bleeding pretty bad so I gave him some of my Chi and helped him up.

"P-Pierce-san?"

"Yep, how's it hanging? You look like hell!" I smiled and patted the young priest on the back. He got flustered.

"Y-yeah, it's been a tough battle. But thank you for saving me!"

"Don't mention it." I waved away his thanks. "Still, I had no idea you actually knew about the supernatural world. Hey, can you do cool Taoist slips and stuff like that? "

"A bit." Yukan nodded.

"Cool! Is it possible if I can buy some? You're teacher didn't want to sell me any since he thinks I'll be responsible with-"

"Pierce." I turned to Vargas. He pointed at a very pissed off Shiruku. "Forgetting something?"

"…You couldn't let me mess with the mood a little longer." I sighed and patted Yukan. "Rest up, this'll be over soon." I walked up to the others and my comment must have pissed off Shiruku even more, her face was purple at this point.

"Soon!? There won't be a soon for any of you!" Shiruku got paler and she drew a blood red Youjutsu spell that shot into the sky. A black mist flowed out and everything it touched corroded, even her own spiders.

"It's a forbidden spell! Get back!" Melissa said and we all jumped back, Sangan and Samantha put up many protection barriers but they were corroding fast.

"What is this!?"

"It's a forbidden Youjutsu spell! Everything it touches corrodes really fast and even your soul can be melted!" Melissa explained as she drew Youjutsu spells to strengthen the barriers.

"What can we do?" Vargas asked as the barriers slowly came down. Shiruku laughed on the other side.

"There's nothing you can do! Just die in there like the rats you are-"

"Yeah, hold on to that thought!" I stepped forward and took out my sword. I activated Sword Fury and a 10 meter blade of silver light shot out. I lifted it over my head and screamed out. "Lower the barrier!" They hesitated before doing so and the black mist flowed in. I slashed down and the mist was cleanly cut in half, even reaching Shiruku and cutting her shoulder.

"Arghhh!" She held her arm and we ran along the cleared path, Vargas kicking her right in the face as she flew back. The mist cleared with Shiruku's concentration gone and she was livid. "Vermin! You're all vermin! You're nothing but the slaves of your petty Gods!"

"And you're a sore loser." I lifted my sword. "But we still win! So see ya!" Shiruku lunged at us but I plunged my sword into her heart, stopping her dead. She puked blood and struggled as her breathe got slower. She eventually stopped and her eyes went dead, I pulled my sword out. Shiruku fell back and her blood slowly flowed on the ground.

"Is she…" Samantha asked and I activated Chi Vision. Shiurku's aura slowly got smaller and smaller until there was nothing left. I nodded and Sangan tossed a Talisman on her body. The Talisman combusted and slowly burned her body, until there was nothing but ashes.

"And that's another down…" I sighed as I fell on the ground, the strengthening spells finally wore off and my body was sore all over. 'I guess 2 power ups is my limit.' I wryly smiled as Samantha came over and took out her Sacred Gear but I waved my hand. "I'm fine, my muscles are just overtaxed."

"What was that silver aura? Is that what strained you're body?" Melissa came over and kneeled down next to me, she started poking at me body. I grabbed her hand.

"Please, don't do that. Everything hurts." I groaned when the adrenaline went away.

"Sorry." Melissa looked sheepish.

A boom was heard and we all looked over to see Yeqon lying in a crater. His wings were torn up, his arm was gone, and he had scorch marks all over. Adrian floated down, also beaten up, and looked down at Shiruku's burned ashes.

"Is it over?" Adrian sighed in relief at our nods. He landed and nodded. "Good job everyone, I know this was a hard fight-" Another boom interrupted him and he looked over to see Simon in his Dragon form land. Everyone else was on his back.

"Where's Shiruku!? I'm here to get my-" Simon stopped and blinked his reptilian eyes. He pointed at the pile of ashes. "Is that…"

"Yep." We all said.

"…Well damn it." Simon huffed and shrunk once more, his clothes were on him this time.

'How does that work?' I watched the Devil siblings walk over to Yeqon and glared down at him. Maven walked over and crouched with Melissa.

"How you feeling big man?" I snorted at Maven's teasing tone.

"Please. I'm still as strong as ev-Oi! I said to stop poking me!" I yelled at the two as they continued poking at my sore body. Sangan walked over with Yukan and they both bowed.

"Thank you for protecting the shrine and this town."

"Umm, it's not much of a town now. Sorry about that." I gave an apologetic smile. Sangan shook his head.

"I would have never been able to get all of the people out of town before the fight picked up. That's what's important and I thank you for that."

"It was no problem, I'm just glad everyone's alright." Adrian spoke as Samantha healed him. I scoffed.

"Yeah, this still would have been much easier if that idiot storm God wasn't so-alright! Alright! I'll stop talking! Put that away!" I yelled as Sangan took out another Mute Talisman. Everyone laughed when Sangan got closer and I crawled away. We eventually got our bearings together and dealt with the remaining spiders in town. With Shiruku dead, Sara was back to normal and she only had some fractures in her left side since she used her diamond spell before my kick connected (What can I say? It was either Yukan who I knew or Sara someone who I didn't know, at least she's alive). Aindrea and I looked everywhere but we never did find Blue Yua.

"That's going to come back and bite me in the ass." I sighed and sat on the shrine steps, looking at a flying Maven as she used her time spells on the town. 'What doesn't she know?' I felt Melissa come by and she sat next to me.

"Hey." She leaned on my arm

"Hey, how you feeling?" I looked down and saw her stomach was fine now.

"We beat Shiruku." I quirked a brow at her tone.

"You sound surprised." She shrugged.

"I just thought killing a Great Yokai would be harder." I deadpanned.

"Melissa…what part of any of that was easy?" We faced an army of giant killer spiders, crazy widow triplets, a Devil Dragon, an 8 winged Fallen Angel, a hero's descendent, an Emissary (barely), AND a Great Yokai. Melissa lightly hit my arm.

"You know what I mean." She looked me in the eyes. "If you weren't there, then that black mist would have killed someone. Maybe all of us…" She got quiet and I placed my hand on her head.

"Then good thing I was there." She tilted her head in confusion. "At the end of the day, all I care about is if we're alive. Anything else like "what could have happened" doesn't enter my mind, I just keep moving. Is that healthy? Probably not. But I joined this quest and I'm not half-assing it, I'm staying till the end."

"…Even if it kills you?" Melissa gave me an intense stare. I shrugged.

"I don't plan to die but yeah, even then." Even Dragons with their power and immortal lifespan die; I might as well go out doing what I want. Melissa stared at me before sighing.

"I just can't understand you." Then she smiled and gave me a kiss. We sat there kissing for a long time before separating. "But I don't think I care." She grabbed my hand and led me to the house we were staying (a Behemoth Spider found the hideout and destroyed it). We walked to her room and I stopped. She looked back at me.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked as Melissa wrapped her arms around my neck.

"I don't know." She shook her head and looked me in the eyes. "But I'd like to find out with you."

"…I-is this your first time?" I was shocked when she blushed and timidly nodded her head. '…She's on a mission to kill a God and she's still a virgin?' Probably not the most important problem but that's what I'm focusing on.

"A-are you not?" She hesitatingly asked.

"…No, I'm still a virgin." This body is at least. You don't really find girls you're age attractive when you have the mental capacity of a 22 year old (at least I didn't).

"Then we'll figure it out together." Melissa gave relieved smile and opened the door. She walked in and I stood outside feeling a little guilty.

'…Maybe I should tell the truth.' Actually the truth will confuse her even more. Let's just lie about this body having experience. "Hey Melissa-" I walked in and froze as Melissa was already under the covers…completely naked and her leopard features were out (ears and tail). She tried sticking a sexy pose but my long silence made her uncomfortable which let to embarrassment. She held the sheets up self-consciously.

"W-what? I-is….is it no good?" Her face got redder which led to her curling up…and her gorgeous body being defined in a very appealing way. I had only one thing to say.

"…Amen Ichiei." I slammed the door close, ripped off my clothes, and jumped into bed (getting a very cute "eep" from Melissa).

It was a very long night.

* * *

And done. Another General goes down and Pierce gets his first taste of magic. I hope you enjoyed.

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_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	18. Chapter 17

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Zoom99:** When i mean average, I mean a guy who's not incredibly handsome. Pierce is 5'6 at best and he has a face that you would see on the street once and never remember again. He's not ugly but he's not memorable either. So yeah, I guess Issei level.

**HiragaSaito16**: Thanks man, I was getting tired of the same DxD fanfictions too and thought to finally make one that I think is original and fun. I hope you enjoy future chapters!

**The Crowned Reaper:** The Chi Swords aren't inspired from Shirou (mainly because I've never seen fate/stay night) but I could see how you could think that. I was inspired by about how Ouryuu can throw literal balls of Touki, so I thought making swords out of Chi wasn't too unrealistic.

* * *

**Chapter 17: Magic 101**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I hope to meet Ichiei one day and thank him for creating it. The OC's are mine. I'll thank myself later.

* * *

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - "_**Jumon"**_

* * *

**Philippines, Mindanao**

A beautiful archipelago with large amounts of flora rested in the Pacific Ocean. Being the native home to many ethnics like the Lumads, Bukidnon, Mamanwas, Yakans, etc. the collective group of islands are considered the highlight of the Philippines. Like the rest of the world, both natural and supernatural, many species live on the rich islands and protect it from invasion.

One of these supernatural creatures were known as the Sarimanoks. Beautiful winged creatures with healing flames and are said to bring good fortunes to those around them. They inhabited an island in the corner of Mindanao; it was a sacred place and many in the supernatural world praise its beauty. On a hill overlooking the Sarimanok's land, two figures could be seen. One figure was abnormally large; easily 6 meters tall, had red skin, was wearing a loin cloth, and had horns sticking out his head. The other being looked very similar but was smaller at 2 meters tall, had purple skin, was wearing loose robes, and he had a wild gray hair with a beard. These beings looked exactly like the Oni's of legends with even matching maces on their sides. Oddly enough, the larger Oni was the one kneeling and was being incredibly respectful to the smaller Oni. The gray haired Oni just stayed silent as he looked over the hill, the Sarimanok's beautiful homeland nothing but ash and fire now. Corpses littered the destroyed grounds. From male to woman Sarimanoks, all ages of creatures laid on the bloodied grounds and around the smaller Oni's feet laid human corpses. The battle was recent by the soft mud and smoking craters.

"So the little spider is dead." The smaller Oni said in a tone that seemed amused. "I'm surprised. She always pegged me as the careful type." He took out a gourd and opened it, the smell of wine drifted out.

"She was going after the corpse of an Evil Dragon; no one knows which one though." The bigger Oni spoke.

"Ah, her greed got the better of her." The purple Oni drank some wine before continuing. "She always had this need to please. Zeth must be disappointed." The bigger Oni nodded.

"Yes, Lord Zeth has called for all Generals to meet." The purple Oni stood up and walked around the battlefield.

"Oh?" He stopped and looked at a bloody Filipino man crawling away. "…You know playing dead would have increased your odds." The Oni shook his head and walked towards the half dead man.

Datu Reyes was the son of a Filipino mother and a Chinese father. He had always been different since he was little. Stronger, faster and overall better in the physical department than the kids his age and even some adults, Datu knew something was different about him. He didn't train to get this strength it just came to him but being part of a small tribe meant that no one ostracized the boy. Taught to hunt by his mother, showed how to pray by his father, trained to fight by the tribe's warriors Datu was raised in a warm environment and came to love people. He wanted to protect his tribe and anyone else that showed him kindness. The abnormal but kind boy grew to be the strongest warrior of his tribe and for years protected it from those who wanted to hurt them.

Then a God spoke to him. The Greek God of the skies and the ruler of Olympus chose Datu as his Emissary.

That was an incredibly confusing day for Datu; he had no idea who the "Greeks" were and what it meant to be an Emissary. After a short pause, the God King quickly explained what all that meant. He also explained to Datu that he was the spirit inheritor of the Chinese general; Lu Bu (Zeus explained who that was too). Taking in all this new information Datu became conflicted. He wanted to go out and save Olympus from the "evil" God Zeth but he also didn't want to leave his tribe behind. After talking about it with his family and tribe elders, they agreed with Datu's dreams to go out and fight for the Gods. So after hard goodbyes and good lucks, Datu made the trip to Olympus. Gathering allies along the way, Datu made it to Olympus and met with his Patron Gods. Zeus, Hermes and Hera talked with the young hero and gave him their blessings. Incredible speed from Hermes, high magical resistance from Hera and one of Zeus' prized thunderbolts. Datu was tested personally by the Greek Gods and they found him very impressive. Considered the strongest Emissary, Datu did his best to meet the expectations put on him. After the assembly was finished, Datu immediately went to chase down his first General.

Sadly, it didn't go as well as he expected.

Traveling on the open waters to slay Zeth's sea beast, they were never able to find it and kill it. After half a month of no progress Datu and his party went back to Olympus in shame but the Gods weren't disappointed. They expected this war to take a long time with how wounded Zeth was and put no pressure on Datu. He praised the Gods for their generosity and strived to work even harder to save Olympus. Then a party came back from successfully killing Zeth's vampire General, Froid. It was a very impressive accomplishment for sure. They may have had quite the advantage against the vampire but killing any Ultimate-Class was something to celebrate. After a short break they quickly went out once more to take on another General. Datu was not the competitive type but he still wanted to do something for the Gods, so he worked harder. Gathering information on a General in the British Isles, Datu was told of another General who appeared in the Philippines.

The Great Yokai and Oni Shuten Douji was trying to bring the Sarimanoks into Zeth's army. The Sarimanoks were a peaceful race and had no prior involvements in mythological wars, not even in the great Biblical one. So Datu and his party went to the Philippines to confront the Oni General. Datu never expected to find what he did. The entire Sarimanoks homeland was destroyed and countless corpses littered the grounds. Enraged, Datu found Shuten on a small mountain overlooking it all and demanded why he did it. The Oni shrugged.

"I made the trip, seemed like a waste to go back empty handed." The Oni laughed as he drank more wine. "Still for a peaceful race they sure can fight, not a single one backed down! I'll drink to that!"

Datu didn't need anything else. Rage fueled him as he and his team charged at the General.

What happened shortly after could not be called a fight. His party threw magic, arrows, swords, and Datu even used his Lightning Halberd. What did Shuten do?

He laughed.

It wasn't a mocking laugh, or a disdainful one, hell you couldn't even call it smug. It was a laugh of pure joy. Like a child with a new toy or a person achieving a hard goal. He was enjoying himself as he took everything they had dead on. Shuten praised their strength and was happy they were just the first group to face him; it meant there were more strong humans to come.

And then he moved.

Running with speed that made no sense, hitting with strength that deified reason, and his durability already spoke for itself. The Oni didn't attack, he _ripped_ them apart.

'We…We didn't stand a chance…' Datu crawled away as his legs were smashed beyond compare long ago. 'I-I even used my S-Soaring General and Zeus's authority and…' Shuten didn't guard against Datu's Ode and Lightning Halberd. He caught the weapon with his bare hand and squeezed. That was the first time Datu had seen lightning "disperse" like that. With pure brute force as well. Shuten finally made it to Datu and grabbed him by the throat, hoisting him up to eye level.

"Please…don't…" Datu tried to pry open the Oni's grip but it was like trying to rend steel.

"You fought well. If this was a few years later then you would have had a higher chance of winning." Shuten frowned when he saw the look of fear in Datu's eyes. He sighed. "But…I guess this is the end for you. Shame, you could have been quite the fighter later on."

"I-" That was all Datu could get out before the Oni squeezed and a snap rang out. The Emissary's body went limp and Shuten dropped him to the ground, his eyes still wide in despair. Shuten looked down once more before turning around and walking back to the red Oni.

"Open the Gate Akui." Shuten took another drink of his wine. "No point loitering around here any longer."

"Yes Lord Shuten." Akui took out a lantern and pointed it in a random direction. The lantern glowed and a Gate appeared in front of them. The dimension Zeth was currently staying in could only be accessed by an Oz Lantern and he gave one to each of his Generals (though when a General dies a seal destroys the given lantern). The Gate opened and the 2 Oni's walked in, leaving behind the quiet scene of carnage.

* * *

**Hakone, Hakone Gongen**

The sunlight came through the window of Melissa's room and a comfortable temperature settled in. My eyes were open as I lay there on the bed, Melissa's naked form resting on top of me. At some point in the night she curled up on top of me and she had a smile on her face as her tail swayed. With how much she eats and her height, I assumed she would be heavier but she was as light as a feather (then again even without Chi I'm pretty strong).

'I have not lived.' I thought this as last night's activities came back to me. Overdramatic? Hell fucking no. Honestly with how good Bouchujutsu kissing felt, I had an idea of how good actual sex would be.

I wasn't even in the ballpark.

After going slow to ease her worries, we quickly picked up the pace and she used Bouchujutsu to synchronize our Chi. It was like nothing I ever felt and before long we went at it long into the night. I looked at my hand and squeezed. After using Strengthening Magic twice like that yesterday, my muscles were exhausted and even Samantha said I would need rest a couple of days before I could really fight again. Even my Chi was making slow progress healing my muscles and I accepted that, it didn't really hurt I just felt heavy. But after last night? My body was healed, full of energy, and even my mind felt clearer. 'Guess it's true what they said, Bouchujutsu really is the best healing option.' I watched Melissa's face as she slept and smiled when her gorgeous face started to drool a little. I played with her soft leopard ears (get your mind out of the gutter) and got a pleased moan from the Yokai, she started shuffling from the contact. After playing with them a little longer I slowly placed Melissa on the side and got out of bed. I put on some clothes and walked out of the room, hoping to find some food to eat. 'Sleeping with my beautiful Yokai girlfriend sure makes me hungry…God I'm a smug bastard.' I internally chuckled at me narcissistic thought and reached the outside of the house, just in time to see Yukan talking low with Yukina. I knew what I had to do.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?" I walked up and smiled as they jumped at my voice.

"G-Good morning Pierce-san." Blushing, Yukina bowed. "How are you doing?"

"It's been a nice morning." I shrugged before looking between them. "But enough about me, how are you 2 doing?" I had to hold back a smirk as they blushed harder under my look.

"I-I was just leaving, I'll see you later Yukan." Yukina took a step before hesitating but turned around anyway and kissed Yukan on the cheek. Yukan looked at Yukina speed walking away in a daze before I brought him back.

"So you went ahead and fought huh?" Yukan looked at me in confusion. "You chose to stop waiting and be honest. Kudos."

"I…" Yukan stopped before continuing. "After what happened yesterday, I didn't want to leave anything to chance. I don't want to die without telling her how I feel." I nodded sagely.

"Well between you and me, no one can say that's a bad reason to live for."

"Thank you Pierce-san." Yukan gratefully nodded and I waved my hand.

"Don't mention it. Do you know where the food hall is though?" Yukan nodded to my question and led me there. As we walked, I looked out and saw how the town was back in its original state. The town's people walked along the paths to the town center or to the harbor, completely unaware of the battle that happened last night. Yukan explained that after Maven teleported everyone back to town (apparently she put them to sleep and transported them to a closed space), Sangan erased the memory of the last 24 hours of everyone. I marveled at how easy it was to do such a thing to a large populace. 'Then again, Raynare did erase the memory of everyone who saw her and she went on a public date with Issei. That definitely would have brought some attention to her.' I mused as we finally reached the food hall and I saw everyone there, even Simon.

"Morning." I nodded to everyone before sitting down.

"Good morning." Adrian nodded to me as I sat down next to Vargas and Sophia. "…How was your night?"

I stopped as I was reaching for some bread and looked up at Adrian's weird tone. Everyone was staring at me with different expressions; Vargas was the most amused, Maven not so much.

"…You all heard that huh?"

"I had to put up noise canceling spells for Christ sake…" Maven mumbled as she picked at her food.

"Sorry…" I said sheepishly as they all chuckled and we got to eating. Melissa joined us shortly after, giving me a hug and sitting down on my lap. She was also embarrassed when everyone subtly (read not subtly) pointed out our time together last night. Sophia, Simon, and Damian went to the front of the shrine after breakfast. They thanked us for our help and that if we ever find ourselves in the Underworld, they will gladly accommodate us. Sophia walked up to me and gave me a sheet of paper.

"What's this?" I took the paper and looked it over. It was white with a magic circle drawn on one side. 'This looks familiar.'

"This is my Clan's contact slip." Sophia explained and I finally knew where I last saw this. "You said you're training to be a magician yes? Then when you learn some magic use that parchment. It will summon a Devil from our clan and you can make a contract with them."

"I can't just make a contract with you?"

"No unfortunately." Sophia shook her head. "I already have a magician I'm contracted with and I can't contract with another."

"Really? Why?"

"It's a rule of thumb to only contract with one magician. If not then a very well known Devil who's heavily involved in magic spells could monopolize a generation of magicians." I nodded at Sophia's explanation.

"Makes sense, I'll hold you to that offer." I pocketed the slip and nodded over to the tied up Yeqon. "What are you going to do with him?"

"…As much as I would love to kill him, he needs to pay for what's he's done." Sophia clenched her fist and took a breather. "He'll be put on trial by my Clan and he will be punished."

"Good." Sophia told me of what Yeqon did and any remote pity I felt for the Fallen Angel went up in Dragon Flames. The Fallen Angel attacked Simon's and Sophia's mother when she tried making peace with the Grigori. Like many Fallen Angels, Yeqon didn't care for the Devil woman and he went out of his way to find her, rape her then kill her. Even for the antagonist Fallen Angels, what Yeqon did was horrid and they kicked him out of Grigori. I may not consider myself a hero but even I would hunt the son of a bitch down and make his death slow. 'It goes to show, even before the Peace Treaty some people in the Three Factions just wanted peace.'

"Thank you again for helping us and giving us Yeqon." Sophia bowed again before smiling. "I hope we can meet again and spar. I'll definitely train harder and beat you next time!"

"…Nope." I said, popping the "p".

"Huh?" Sophia was confused.

"Sorry, it's just…you're not that type of character."

"…What?"

"Now don't get me wrong you got the reckless part down, but you just don't have the whole battle crazy thing going and you're too pretty to follow that troupe." I said in a serious voice.

"W-What!? P-Pretty?! You shouldn't say things like that so easily to a maiden!" Sophia went beet red and admonished my words. I deadpanned even harder and pointed at her.

"Nope! You lost the chance to be that character when you tried to burn me to death!"

"I-I don't understand what you're saying! And you said you were over that!" Sophia became even more lost. After filling my daily quota of "confusing the shit out of someone", Sophia thanked me once again and walked to her brother and retainer.

"Sophia." I said remembering something and Sophia looked back at me. "I have to ask, in the Great War who did your Clan swear allegiance to?" Even if the Four Satans were the true leaders of the Devil race, it didn't stop many Clans from following the direct orders of one Satan over the others.

"Hmm." Sophia thought for a minute before speaking. "My Clan was one of the Devil's assault corps because of our Dragonic abilities. We mainly followed under the Lucifer and Beelzebub Clan. Why do you ask?"

"…You owe us Sophia."

"What?" Sophia didn't understand where that came from.

"You said so. You owe us for what we've done, right?"

"…Yes we do. If there's anything you need just say so and we'll try our best to accomplish it." Sophia nodded with conviction.

"Good." I took a breath and looked her right in the eyes. "Damian said there was tension in the Underworld and talk about factions forming. You know about that right?"

"Yes?" Sophia was wondering where I was going with this.

"If factions really form then join the one the Gremory Clan does."

"But why-"

"If you do this then we'll be even. You don't even need to convince your clan if they don't want to. Just take your brother, Damian, and anyone else who you care about. That's all I ask." I finished speaking and Sophia looked at me in silence. We didn't move as we locked eyes and Sophia finally nodded.

"Alright, I promise to follow the Gremory's lead." Then Sophia walked away. I sighed at this.

'I've done what I could; it's up to her to listen.' I thought this as Melissa walked next to me and gave me a smirk.

"I think she likes you."

"…She has a funny way of showing that if she does." I scoffed and smirked at Melissa. "What? You jealous?"

"Oh please." She humphed and elbowed me. "If anything it shows I got good taste if a Devil Princess likes you."

"Fair enough." I chuckled and we walked up to say goodbye. The Devil trio stood with the Fallen Angel and activated a teleportation spell; they were gone the next second. Sangan also came by and said his thanks for protecting the shrine. He gave each of us a pamphlet on how to make Taoist Talisman and said we were welcome any time (I ignored the bundle of Mute Talisman's Sangan discreetly gave Adrian; the guy's earned them). I walked over to the Offering Hall and took out a coin.

"What are you doing?" Adrian asked and I smiled back at him.

"I'm going to have a chat with an overworked Chief Goddess who's too good at board games."

"…"

"…"

"…Okay." Then Adrian walked away. I blinked at this.

'…I think I broke him.' I tossed the coin in the basket, did the prayer procedure, and closed my eyes.

* * *

**Amaterasu's Astral Plane**

I opened my eyes and I was once again in the beautiful garden with a water fountain. The Sun Goddess was sitting by the lake this time, the lightning dog by her side. I walked over and sat down next to her; I reached out and petted the dog. When I ran my hand through its fur electricity sparked out but it didn't hurt.

"What's her name?" I asked as the dog leaned into my hand when I scratched behind its ear.

"Denki." Amaterasu spoke and smiled at me. "Congratulations on your victory. Sangan told me how difficult the fight was."

"It's the job." I looked at Amaterasu and nodded. "Still, if it wasn't for you telling us then we would have no idea what Shiruku was planning. Thank you."

"No problem." Amaterasu smiled and we sat there in silence. I continued playing with the dog and Amaterasu stared at the lake.

"So…

"Karuta?" She already had the cards in hand.

…I was actually going to ask about Susanoo but sure." I shrugged and Amaterasu waved her hand. A table appeared between us and she started shuffling the cards.

"My brother already heard about the shrine and he was grateful for your help."

"Really?" I was surprised by the storm God's attitude.

"Yes…" But Amaterasu sighed. "Then he told Sangan to give you all an award for the effort."

"…Wait, you mean…"

"Yes, the pamphlets are from Susanoo."

"…Your brother sucks." I leaned back after saying that. "And a cheepskate." I mean it was an introduction to Taoist Talisman for Christ sake!

"I know." The Sun Goddess looked sheepish for her brother's decision. "But if there's anything I can do then let me know."

"It's fine. We were going after Shiruku anyway, besides there's nothing I wan-" I stopped as I looked down at the dog. I slowly lifted my head and stared at Amaterasu. She narrowed her eyes.

"No."

"Oh come! You said anything, so why not give her to me!? I hugged the lightning dog (it had an adorable confused face) and Amaterasu shook her head.

"Sorry but that Lightning Beast is an endangered species of Yokai and I'm watching over it." She tried reaching for the dog but I pulled back. "Give me the dog Pierce."

"Nope." I stood up and started backing away.

"Pierce…" The Sun Goddess also got up and took a step closer. I took one step back. She took another. Guess what I did?

* * *

**5 Minutes Later**

"Give me the damn dog Pierce!" Amaterasu tugged on the dog as I pulled as well.

"No! You said anything I want! I guess the apples don't fall too far from the tree!"

"What's that's supposed to mean!?"

"Your brother's an idiot and you're a liar!" I pulled harder on the Lightning Beast. 'It's being surprisingly calm about this.' I looked down and saw the dog actually yawn.

"I'll reward you some other way but not this! Let go!"

"You let go!"

So a human and a Sun Goddess pulled a bored Lightning Beast between them in a heavenly plane. An average day in my life really.

"…What are you two doing?" A man's voice rang out and we both turned to the voice. A Japanese man with short black hair and a clean goatee stood there.

"O-Omoikane!?" Amaterasu quickly let go, making me fall back with the dog, and started sweating. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I was coming to see where you were." Omoikane rubbed his face and sighed. "Raijin stole Inari's patch of rice again and she's wants it back."

"Urghhhh!" Amaterasu groaned in frustration. "Isn't that the third time this year!? If he's that bored then go on a trip with Tenjin again!"

"Tell him that." Omoikane sighed and then looked at me.

"Hey." I waved at the God.

"Hello." He bowed in greeting. "Amaterasu told me what you and your team have done. Thank you."

"It was no problem."

Omoikane nodded at my answer and turned back to Amaterasu. "Let us go back and handle the situation before Raijin does anything else." Amaterasu sighed and walked to me. She took my arm and drew a Taoist symbol on my arm. She explained how with it I can be allowed entry in any Shinto shrine and major families that worship the Shinto Gods will recognize its importance.

'Oh I am going to abuse that…Probably.' After leaving with Omoikane and taking the Lightning Beast (damn her!), I left the Astral Plane.

* * *

**Top of Olympus**

The light from the platform dimmed and we were once again at the top of the massive mountain.

"…I don't think I'm ever getting used to this." Vargas looked over the ledge and commented.

"Eh, it's kind of growing on me." I said and looked over to the quiet Sara. "Can't imagine what Shiruku put her through. She hasn't said a word since gaining control back."

"The majority of her team died while one betrayed her to Shiruku, no one's going to be alright after that." Vargas shook his head in sympathy. "I just hope she gets over it."

"Let's go." Adrian led us across the bridge and we stopped at the entrance. "I'm going to meet with my Patrons, Aindrea can you take Sara to see her-"

"I know the way." Sara finally spoke up and started to walk away. We watched her leave and Adrian spoke up.

"I really think Aindrea should-"

"I don't need your help." Sara coldly said and turned the corner.

"…Well she's ungrateful." I frowned at Sara's attitude.

"She's been through a lot Pierce." Adrian shook his head at my comment.

"So? Shiruku made Simon beat his sister half to death and he still said thanks." I shrugged at Adrian's defense. "Lots of people go through shit all the time, doesn't give them the right to lash out at the world." Especially to the people that got her out of that shit show. Regardless, we pushed the matter aside and walked to our rooms. Halfway there I asked Melissa if she wanted to hang out in the side garden but Maven stopped me.

"Are you forgetting something?" I tilted my head at the mage. She rolled her eyes and tossed me a book. It read "Introduction to Magic", I put the pieces together.

"Right now?" Maven nodded. "Right now then." I turned to Melissa and rescheduled our date. She just smiled and gave me a kiss wishing me luck. I watched my girlfriend walk away and turned to the mage.

"We're going to need one thing if you're going to teach me magic." I said with a serious face and Maven tilted her head.

"What do we need?" I smiled cryptically.

"You'll find out." I chuckled at the mage's confused face and dragged her to Olympus' tailor.

* * *

**Top of Olympus, Maven's Room**

Maven's room was a big room with shelf's full of magic books, a closet of clothes, and a old timey guitar called a Cittern in the corner (I didn't understand how there were noise spells and instruments were still slow as ever to evolve but whatever). I sat on a chair as Maven looked in the mirror at her new outfit.

"I don't know why you needed me to wear this but…I kind of like it." Maven turned left and right to see the whole outfit. She was wearing a black business suit and long pants that hugged her womanly figure very well.

'He truly is the tailor of the Gods.' I was really impressed with the tailor's handiwork. 'I gave him a very basic description yet he still made it perfectly.' Maven looked at herself a little longer before facing me.

"Now, let's begi-"

"Ah!" I held up my hand to stop her and rubbed my space ring. "We need the finishing touch." A pair of black frame glasses appeared in my hand (these I made myself). I handed the lens less glasses to Maven and she held them up.

"You want me to put these on?" I nodded my head at her question and she gave me a weird look. Maven looked like she was going to ask why but instead sighed and put them on. "Huh…" She looked in the mirror and stared at her new look. A minute passed before she nodded her head and looked at me. "I like it. It feels right for some reason."

I just gave a wide smile.

"Anyway, let's begin." Maven waved her hand and the same book she gave me opened up. It floated to her hand. "Tell me Pierce, what is magic to you?"

"Uhhh…" I blinked and thought for a second. "A really neat thing to have when going after a God?" Maven chuckled at me response.

"Well you're not wrong but no." Maven flipped a page and began. "Magic is the manipulation of an energy called Mana and it has existed since forever. Like Chi, be it from a living being or nature, it could be found everything."

I nodded my head and stared writing down in a notebook she gave me. Ichiei, for the most part, never really explained the inner workings of Magicians and how they do magic. Coming from a genius like Maven, this had to be good.

"All Magicians draw upon Mana and form it into Magic Circles, which they write Magical Languages on, to bring about a desired effect." I raised my hand and Maven deadpanned. "Pierce you're the only person here."

"…" I kept my hand up. Sighing, Maven motioned towards me. "How do Magicians draw Mana?"

"Good question." A board appeared in the room and the outline of a person was drawn on it. Maven pointed at its head. "Magicians use Spiritual Energy to call upon Mana. Every living being has a spirit and it generates Spiritual Energy, so everyone can learn magic."

"So how do affinity's work?"

"Many spirits, yours included, are drawn to a certain type of Mana. You see, Mana is associated with many concepts and elements. A fire spell would need fire Mana, earth spells would need earth Mana, time spells would need time Mana, and so on and so forth. Strengthening Magic needs Mana that's associated with metal. You know to make skin and muscles denser to make them stronger. Healing Magic is more of a mix bag with some parts water and wood since they are the more healing elements."

"So how do Devil's use magic? I know they imagine stuff and it happens but do they use Spiritual Energy?" It was something I always wondered about and sue me if "that's just how Devil's are" doesn't cut it for me.

"A Devil's Demonic Power is a formless type of Mana that can become any other type they can imagine. It generates from their very bodies and those that are a part of the 72 Pillars gain another source of Mana that creates a unique ability. Like the Bael Clan's Power of Destruction or the Agares Clan's Time Manipulation, the Devils of those Clans have this second source of Mana."

"…Well that's bullshit." I gave my opinion on that.

"It's just how things are." Maven wryly smiled. "It's the same with a God's Divine Power. It's another form of Mana that has even more freedom then a Devils and it's compatible with anyone."

'I guess that explains how Indra made Guan Yu a God.' I remembered the Hindu God King and his choice to resurrect the Chinese general.

"While many supernatural beings have an edge on us in terms of energy output that's doesn't mean there's no hope." Maven smiled and pointed at board again. "While humans don't generate Mana by themselves they can use their Spiritual Energy to draw Mana from the world and mimic the powers of other beings, learning their spells in simpler terms." I raised a brow at that.

"So in theory I could learn to use the Bael's Power of Destruction?"

"Sure." Maven nodded. "I mean Merlin did it, so it's not impossible." I blinked at that piece of information.

"Merlin could use the Power of Destruction?"

"Merlin studied the Devil race and created an entire system of magic for Magicians to follow. He mimicked Bael's Power of Destruction, Abaddon's Power of Hole, Belial's Worthlessness; Merlin studied pretty much every Devil he could and reengineered their abilities."

'…Now that's badass.' I had to give respect to a human that could use every ability of the 72 Pillars.

"Now the magic system he created is divided into 2 major types, Western magic and Eastern magic. Western magic is a system of spells and magical knowledge found in Europe while Eastern magic is a system of sorcery that originates in Asia; magic gained from observing Devil's demonic power and the miracles of Gods." I nodded along and wrote all this down. "There is a system to rank levels of magic; this system is called the 7 Orders." I stopped writing and looked up.

'Never heard of that before.' While I had many questions, there was one that I had to ask. "Why 7?" (Why is it always 7?)

"Because that's the universally recognized number." Maven said but I was still confused. "You know the 7 Heavens in the Bible, the 7 Major Chakra's of Hinduism, Buddhism's 7 Steps, the 7th day…well everywhere. You get the idea, the number 7 is pretty important." I couldn't disagree with that. "So there are 7 Orders of magic, the 1st Order being the weakest and 7th being the strongest. The level of magic you learn signifies you're rank, for example when you learn a 1st Order spell you'll be a 1st Order Magician."

"What about forbidden spells? How are they categorized?"

"Forbidden spells are kind of their own rank. The reason they're called forbidden is because they touch upon a taboo like fate and the soul. While regular spells take solely Mana, you can substitute Mana with life-force to cast a forbidden spell. Many skilled Magicians can cast forbidden spells with only Mana but it typically costs far more than a regular spell. Also, depending on how much you're willing to give up, you can make a forbidden spell just as strong as a 7th Order spell."

"Hmmm. That's really interesting." I was getting into the lesson now.

"Indeed." Maven drew on the board Orders 1 to 7 and turned back to me. "Now the majority of magic users in the world can easily learn 1st Order magic. Every branch of magic, Elemental, Angel, Devil, White, Black, etc. has magic spells that go from 1st to 5th. Every increase in rank is ten times harder than the last and 5th Order is approaching the mythological Gods."

"Does every God and Goddess know 5th Order magic?" I asked

"It's more of the fact that they're Divine Power can augment any spell they use to 5th Order rank. A 1st Order spell with enough Divine Power can rival a regular 5th Order spell."

"…That's comforting." I sarcastically said. 'So a simple 1st Order fireball spell can become a ball of flames the size of a city in the hands of a God. Well I guess they aren't called Gods for nothing.'

"Of course there are limits." Maven drew a line between 5th and 6th Order. "Even if a God augments a 5th Order spell with Divine Power it will have difficulty matching a 6th Order spell. Innate abilities like the Bael Clan's Power of Destruction are actually just 5th Order magic. There is only one group of supernatural beings that have innate 6th Order abilities, the Trimurti."

"You mean Shiva, Brahma, and…why can't I ever remember the last guy?" I tried to remember but the name eluded me.

"Vishnu." Maven saved me the headache and said the name. "I don't know the specifics but it's said that they're innate abilities are insane." I nodded, taking her word for it but I quickly noticed something.

"And 7th Order?" I was really curious about the final rank. 'Those guys are among the top in the Top 10 Strongest Beings in the World yet there's another rank of magic above them?'

"7th Order is another level that not even 6th Order can compare to, it borders on reality warping. No being has an innate 7th Order ability, you have to actually learn to cast a 7th Order spell." Maven made a thicker line between the two ranks. "6th Order Magic users come and go; Merlin, Odin (in his prime), the Trimurti, etc. they're all 6th Order rank. But 7th Order is something else entirely."

"How many 7th Order Magic users have there been?" My eyes widened when Maven put 2 fingers. "You're kidding."

"No I'm not." Maven shook her head solemnly. "In all of history, from the era of the Ancient Gods to the current day, there have only been two 7th Order Magic users."

"Who were they?" I asked really curious.

"The God of the Bible is one."

"…"

"…"

"…Oh." I leaned back at that piece of information. 'That…explains everything actually.'

He created the 7 Biblical Heavens, The Sacred Gear system, the Longinus', the Angels, the Holy Swords, found Trihexa at the end of the world where no one but him can find, sealed the world ending beast with thousands of forbidden spells, joined the Great War right after, _and_ killed the Four Satans before dying from his exhaustion.

'…God was a freaking Level 1000 Master Wizard!' I may not care for the Bible but man you can't say the guy wasn't a badass! "And the second one?!" It was hard to believe someone else had the same rank as him after hearing that.

"Actually." Maven gained a very respectful face. "The other 7th Order Magic user was a woman. A human woman."

"…No shit?"

"No shit." Maven smiled and said. "She was a magician born in the era of the Ancient Gods and she was incredible."

"What happened to her?"

"She died of old age." Maven shrugged and laughed at my face. "Sorry to tell you this Pierce but just because you have unbelievable power doesn't mean you want to live millenniums, she wanted to die a human. Now the era of the Ancient Gods ended around the time she died but that's probably unrelated." She smirked at my deadpan and snapped her fingers, a row of books appeared in front of me. "Now that we've gotten the general information out of the way, let's hit the books!" I picked up one and it said "Basic Physics". Another said "Introduction to Biology".

"Umm, Maven." I spoke my worries. "None of these are magic books."

"That's not true." Maven pointed to a tiny book in the corner. "That's a magic book." I picked up the small book and it actually said "Magical Languages for Dummies".

"…Are you mad at me or something?" I asked and Maven laughed.

"No Pierce, I'm not mad at you. Believe it or not these books are the same one's my magic teacher gave me to start with."

"Even this one?" I raised the magic book.

"Contrary to its title, that book is quite comprehensive on teaching Magical Languages. No I'm serious, try it." Maven raised her hand to stop me from talking. "As for the rest, Magicians don't have the imaginative powers Devils and Gods do. So we have to understand how the spells we cast work, that means learning different branches of science. Physics is for Strengthening magic and Biology is for Healing magic, we'll work on space-time later."

"…Son of a bitch." I sighed, opened the book and got to reading.

* * *

**2 Days Later, Side Garden**

"Are you learning magic?" Athena stood over me as I sat on the grass reading a book.

"Yeah, the mage on my team is teaching me." I looked back at my book and continued reading. Athena crouched down and tilted her neck, reading the cover.

"Oh is that "Magical Languages for Dummies"? I've read it before, it's quite good." Athena commented and I stared at her in silence. "What?"

"Nothing it's just…I thought she was messing with me." I mumbled and flipped a page. It was a good read don't get me wrong, and it sure as hell went in depth on what Magical Languages are but the title still picked at me. After congratulating me on another General defeated, Athena brought me to side garden and continued our training. I usually took out the magic and science books to read after the sessions. Athena was now teaching me a sword form she learned in the Middle East that's a combination of Kenjutsu and Fencing (I don't know if either of them are actually strong but if a Goddess of War says to learn it, then you're going to learn it). She also picked out a training routine that really pushes my body to its limits and makes me question if Athena is secretly a sadist.

'Then again, I can say I've been trained by an actual Goddess so it's worth it.' I smirked as I laid on the grass and Athena picked up one of my books, reading it for a minute before laying down with me. I quirked a brow at her sigh. "What's up? Being trapped on a godly mountain, with every pleasure humanly possible included, finally getting to you?" Athena rolled her eyes at me.

"It's not that great up here." I deadpanned

"…Athena, you guys have rooms the size of cities, hundreds of servants, and advanced plumbing."

"And?" Athena asked in an honest tone.

"…You know what; you Gods have a very warped view of common sense."

"Pierce no offence but…I do not want to hear that from you." Athena gave me weird look.

"Hey I do it on purpose, what's you're excuse?"

"I'm a beautiful Goddess; I can do what I want and I'll be forgiven." Athena shrugged and I sighed.

"And people pray to you." I shook my head mockingly.

"Oh?" Athena smirked and laid sideways, one hand on her head and the other on her waist. "And you wouldn't pray to me Pierce?" She gave me a smile and said in a teasing tone. I tried to keep it together as the Goddess' incredible body seemed to be more defined in that pose and the glint in her eyes wasn't helping.

'…Okay be cool, you have a girlfriend and she's just a super hot War Goddess who's teasing you.' That did not help. I took a breath and looked at Athena with a serious face. "Hell yeah I would!" God damn it.

Athena laughed and laid back down. We sat there in silence as I tried to get through a Physics book without ripping my hair out.

'All things considered, I'm surprised Maven has Physic's books this advanced in this time period.' I definitely remember reading some of this stuff in high school (nothing specific, just the overall class). 'That's probably because sorcery is real in this world; a lot of the limitations old scientists have can be bridged with mag-'

"Thank you." Athena spoke up and I looked at her.

"What for?"

"Just…this." Athena motioned all around with her arms and smiled at me. "It's been awhile since I've had real companionship."

"…Okay." I put down the book and faced her. "You want to explain that? Come on; tell Uncle Pierce what's bothering you. We can figure it out together." Athena scoffed at my tone and she took a minute before speaking.

"It's just…I've always had this position on me. Since I was born I was the Goddess of War and Zeus' daughter. I've had respect and worship for as long as I can remember but…I never really had a friend."

"What about the other Goddesses like Aphrodite and Amaterasu?"

"It's not the same." Athena shook her head. "Aphrodite is like a sibling, along with the other Gods and Goddesses in Olympus. Amaterasu is a friend but she's a God as well and she's busy a lot. Now I can't even meet her in person because of Zeth." Athena blinked before adding. "Then again, whenever we meet she wants to play board games and I can never seem to win."

"I know right!?" I jumped up and exclaimed. "It makes no sense! I swear she has to be cheating, it's the only answer! But I'll find out how and I'll get justice for both of us!" I took a second to catch my breath and focused back on Athena. "You were saying?"

"…I just enjoy our sessions together and having someone who isn't afraid of me is real nice." Athena smiled up at me. "I'm glad to have a friend like you Pierce."

"…"

"…Pierce?" Athena gave me a worried look and stood up. "Are you oka-" The War Goddess blinked and tilted her head. "…What's wrong?"

"Nothing…" I trembled

"But you're cryin-"

"I'm not crying! You're crying! God damn it!" I rubbed my eyes and picked up Athena in a hug, making her blush crimson. "I'm glad you're my friend too!"

"L-let me down!" Athena forgot she was a Goddess that can wipe me out with a single punch and flailed around.

"No! And do you know why?! Because I'm going to kick Zeth's ass and take you off this mountain! We'll take a tour through every world there is; Earth, Heaven, Hell, and any other dimension out there! We'll do so much stupid shit that legends will be written and everyone will know of Pierce's and Athena's awesome adventure! In fact!" I dropped Athena, who at this point looked the most lost I've ever seen on anyone, and rubbed my space ring. My bucket list appeared in my hand and I wrote a fourth goal.

4: Take a Road Trip through every world that exists in DxD

"There! Now it's set in stone! Just wait Athena because you can't back out now!" I laughed like a mad man and Athena stared at me like I'd gone crazy.

"…Okay." That was all she said as she looked down at my bucket list. Then she chuckled. Which slowly increased to full blown laughter. And so a human and a War Goddess laughed out loud on top of the Greek Heaven.

Just another day.

* * *

And done. The ranking of magic in DxD is something that I'm incorporating and I hope it doesn't confuse too many people. As for the reason I made the Power of Destruction only 5th Order? It's a pretty powerful ability and with enough practice, like Sirzechs has shown, it can be quite powerful but it's not really a "broken" ability (in my opinion). I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	19. Chapter 18

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**desropter: **Being a 7th Order Magician is about having the technique to cast a 7th Order spell. Ophis' Infinity Power and Great Red's Dream Powers could be considered innate 7th Order abilities but they mainly use their overwhelming dragon energy to be the strongest. Besides, Ophis is many things but I highly doubt she has the capabilities to do 7th Order spells that aren't her innate powers (I have no idea if Great Red knows magic, I doubt it though).

**Yukilumi:** Actually, Shuten Douji exists in DxD. Akeno has an Oni mask that can summon an onigami named Ibaraki Doujou, who's the right hand man of Shuten. As for the magical theory, I can't have Pierce learn magic and NOT explain how it works, that's just lazy writing. The reason Athena laughed was in part because Pierce's idea was pretty strange but also because her friend was willing to fight a God just to take her on an awesome road trip. It was supposed to be more wholesome then anything but you can interpret it however you like. I will say this now though, no one in the party will die. Get their asses beat? Of course but they won't die. No one in the Canon cast dies and I'll extent the same benefits to my main cast. If that turns anyone off then thanks for reading.

**Rigald02:** Thanks man and don't worry he will, but I want romance to be as realistic as I can. My fic is staying true to DxD, so God isn't some omnipotent being in this world but you got to admit the God of the Bible was something else. He created the True Longinus that could destroy a world if put in the wrong hands, made Angels that became Fallen Angels, which possibly became Devils (there had to be a reason the Original Satans hated him so much to go to war with him), and he created the Sephiroth Graal which allows the user to know the principle of life. I don't know what that means but I'm guessing it's pretty impressive. Point is, God wasn't the strongest being but I will give him his due.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Poetic Irony**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but if people enjoy this fic as much as the original work then I'm happy. I own the OCs. Pierce is my greatest creation (he's my first but eh, still counts).

* * *

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - "_**Jumon"**_

* * *

**1 Day Later, Side Garden**

"We're doing what now?" I looked at Vargas as I laid my head on Melissa's soft thighs.

"Adrian wants us all together for something, he didn't say what." Vargas shrugged. "He's going to meet us by the teleporter."

"Urghhh." I groaned as I didn't want to get up from my girlfriend's lap pillow.

"Come on Pierce, we'll come back later." Melissa rubbed my hair and smiled.

"Oh fine." I sighed and gave Vargas the stink eye.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! I'm just the messenger!" Vargas defended himself and I scoffed.

"Guilty by association."

"…That's not how that work's Pierce." Vargas deadpanned

"Says who!? Show me the rules!"

We joked around as we walked to the teleporter (along the way everyone else joined us) and Adrian met us there.

"I'm glad you're all here. Let's go, I got a surprise for you all." Adrian cryptically said and walked on the platform. We followed suit and a bright light shone, then we were gone.

* * *

**Unknown Forest**

We ended up in a beautiful sunny forest, large trees that were dozens of meters tall surrounded us, a large river calmly flowed next to us and there was even a large cabin on the side.

"Why are we here?" I asked as I looked around and saw many supernatural creatures.

"Why you're here to get Familiars of course." A voice came from the cabin and a beautiful woman walked out. Adrian came to attention and bowed.

"Lady Demeter." We quickly bowed as well and Demeter waved her hand.

"There's no need for that. You all worked hard so it's only fair that you are rewarded." Demeter walked away and we all followed along. She started explaining how Zeus was pleased with our work and gave us the chance to get Familiars from the personal Familiar Forest of the Gods. She led us to the middle of the forest and gave us each necklaces. For those that aren't versed in magic (I haven't learned to control my Spiritual Energy yet), the necklaces were a bridge to connect us with the supernatural creatures. To gain a Familiar, the creature needs to come to you and if they want they'll send out some Spiritual Energy to make a Contract.

"I already have familiars." Melissa spoke up and Samantha nodded as well.

"Well that doesn't mean you can't get more, who knows you might find one you like." Demeter advised and the 2 nodded. "It's early so you can take your time and don't rush; Familiar catching is sometimes a lengthy prospect." We bowed to the Goddess of Agriculture and watched as she walked back to the cabin.

'…Why was her hair purple?' I wondered as Adrian spoke up.

"Alright, let's take this slow and look around. The forest is pretty safe and we can- Pierce where are you going?" Adrian asked as I walked in a random direction.

"I figured it would be more interesting if we split up and get our Familiar's separately." I shrugged and explained my reasoning. "It can be like a reveal; we'll all meet up back here in a couple of hours and show off our new pets." The silence was deafening as they looked at me in shock. "Okay, what comment do you have now?"

"You…" Adrian pointed at me in shock. "You actually said something reasonable."

"I say plenty of reasonable things; you just don't understand half of them." They all collectively snorted and we chose different directions to go in, I headed east.

* * *

**3 Hours Later**

'Well this is going great.' I sarcastically thought as another Bolt Cat walked away after petting it. The last 3 hours was me basically playing with any Familiar I can find and from their reactions they seem to like me. Yet after a couple of minutes they never try to make a link and I end up watching as the creature walks away. 'I don't know what's worse, the fact that I get friend zoned by every magical beast I meet or…yeah no, that's pretty much it.' This Familiar Forest has been a large petting zoo experience for me and while it's been fun I was hoping to get a cool new pet. After stroking the feathers of a magical hawk, it flew away and I sighed.

"I should start heading back. Damn it, I really wanted a-" I stopped when I felt a life force near my feet and looked down at the small being. I blinked. The small creature blinked back. Crouching, I came to eye level with it and stared.

"…Well you're cute." Smiling, I petted the small mammal and took out some sugar candy (Familiars love the stuff apparently). I reached out with some and it nibbled on the piece, soon eating it all. After playing with it for a little longer I stood up and stretched. "Now then, time to go-" I stopped once more, not because I felt another life force but because the Familiar necklace was emitting heat. Knowing what this meant I looked around but found no magic animals…Then I looked down. Right at the small creature, who was looking back at me. I brought the necklace closer and it got even hotter.

I blinked. I blinked again. Then I looked straight up and stared at the sky.

"…You're alive aren't you?" I got no answer. "This is an AU and you didn't die in the Great War right? Because somebody has to be doing this on purpose." I sighed and rubbed my face, looking back down at my Familiar candidate.

* * *

**Cabin**

"Hey Demeter!" The voice of Artemis rang out and Demeter turned around. The Goddess of Hunting came up along with Athena. Demeter humphed. "Oh come, I thought we called a truce."

"Yeah and you said my hair would be back to normal soon, things don't really work out do they?" Demeter said then smirked at Artemis. "By the way, how's your Ceryneian doing? I hope it doesn't have that really rare and old cold still." Artemis gasped.

"I-It was you!" The Goddess of Hunting pointed at Demeter's evil smile in anger. "How could you do that to such an innocent creature!?"

"Innocent!? You're not fooling anybody!? Everyone knows how you put Hermes boots on the deer and made it steal Apollon's cattle that time!" Demeter brought up Artemis' dark (stupid) past and she blushed in embarrassment.

"T-That's still no reason to bring it into this! It was cruel and unnecessary!"

"Oh please! It'll be fine in a couple of days but you got the damn dye from the Dwarves of all races! This will take forever to wear off!"

"I think it's a nice color on you." Athena gave her two cents.

"You stay out of this!" Demeter was having none of it. "Thank you for the compliment but that's not the point! It's the principle of the matter!"

"What principle!?"

"To not dye my hair as one of you're stupid pranks!"

Athena shook her head as the two bickered like children and walked up to the small floating screens. The cabin was actually Demeter's observation deck where many seeing spells are placed around the forest. The seeing spells show every part of the forest as small screens and Demeter typically spends her days here, watching all the animals. Athena walked up to one and saw her Emissary trying to make a link with a Pegasus. Another showed Vargas chasing after a White Stag, from the way it periodically stops for him to catch up Athena assumed it was interested. Many other members were in the middle of catching a Familiar and some already did.

'There he is.' Athena found what she was looking for and stared at one screen. It showed Pierce petting a Rain Hawk and she chuckled when he became visibly distraught once it left.

"What are you laughing at?" Demeter peeked over Athena's shoulder and looked at the screen. "Oh, is that the human you and Aphrodite keep talking about?"

"Aphrodite talks about him?" Athena quirked a brow at that. "What does she say?"

"Just that he's weird and pretty good at Chi." Demeter shrugged and smirked at the War Goddess. "Why? Afraid she'll take away your little apprentice?"

"…You know now that I get a closer look, purple does make you look fat." Athena quipped and had to hold back a smirk from Demeter's "W-what!?" The Goddess of Agriculture summoned a mirror and nervously looked over her gorgeous figure. Athena shook her head at her fellow Goddess' vanity and looked back at the screen. Artemis also joined her and they watched as Pierce looked down at a-

'Wait a minute.' Athena leaned forward and squinted. 'Is that a…'

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

It was a rabbit.

A rabbit completely made out of green crystals. It twitched its nose like a real one and its gaze never left mine. We stood in silence as the warm necklace burned a hole in my chest.

"…You really can't make this up." I sighed and reached out for the rabbit. It didn't resist as I picked it up and brought it to eye level. "So you want to be my Familiar?"

"…" Of course the green rabbit didn't talk (actually is that a thing? Can Familiars talk?) but the necklace got hotter and the rabbit seemed to be the cause.

"…Fuck it." I grabbed the necklace and placed it against the rabbit. It shone in a bright light and I could feel a part of my soul "receiving" something from the rabbit. 'I could always get another Familiar later on.' Once the light dimmed, the rabbit jumped on my shoulder and rubbed against my cheek. "Nice to meet you too." I smiled as I could feel the rabbit's consciousness and it seemed happy. "I'm Pierce, what's your name?"

"…" The rabbit just cutely tilted its head.

"Right, you're a rabbit." I wryly smiled and thought. "How about...Lilly?"

"..." My Familiar slowly shook its head.

"Sasha?" It seemed to think about it for a second but shook its head again.

"I got it! Bugs Bunny!" The rabbit immediately shook its head. "Oh come on, lots of people like that!" It didn't budge. I thought for a bit longer but just shrugged. "Forget it, I'll just call you Green Rabbit."

"..." My Familiar gave me the rabbit equivalent of a deadpan and lightly kicked my cheek.

"Alright, alright." I laughed and stared at the rabbit. "How about…Jade. Like the Jade Rabbit." My Familiar's aura said she was female and she seemed to like it as her soul pulsed in happiness (this spirit connection is going to be weird to get used to). I petted Jade once more and made my way back to the meeting spot. Walking through the forest I reached the spot and I saw Melissa with Maven and Aindrea. Maven had a large brown eagle (about 6 meters tall) behind her and Aindrea was sitting on a griffin. Melissa saw me and got up, walking over to me.

"Welcome back." Melissa smiled and I looked around.

"Where are your Familiars?"

"I didn't find any I liked, but it's fine I have my shadow hounds. Where's yo- '' Melissa's gaze stopped on my shoulder and she stared at Jade.

"…Melissa?" I said her name but she seemed transfixed on my new Familiar. I moved to the left and Melissa's gaze followed. I moved to the right and she continued. I picked up Jade and held her out to Melissa. "Do you want to hold he-"

"She's so cute!" Melissa hugged Jade to her large chest and squealed. "Is she you're Familiar!? Does that mean I can play with her a lot!? Can I!?" The Yokai seemed in love with the rabbit and I nodded, smiling.

"Yes Melissa, you can play with her whenever you want." That brought a big smile to Melissa and she continued hugging Jade, who didn't seem to mind all that much.

"Is this you're Familiar?" Aindrea walked up and looked at Jade before smirking. "Not all that impressive."

"Eh, it wanted to be my Familiar so I let it." I shrugged and nodded towards the griffin. "Nice bird, hope it doesn't crap all over your mountain sized ego."

"Humph!" Aindrea grunted and showed his griffin off. "Please, this is a top of the line Familiar with wind abilities and only chooses great warriors as maste-" Aindrea didn't get to finish as the griffin flapped its wings and sent dust in his direction. Coughing, the Demigod glared at the Familiar and swore to show it who's boss. It just blew more dust in his face. Shaking my head at the pissed off Aindrea, I turned to look at Maven and her Familiar.

"And yours?" I nodded at the huge eagle. Maven moved her gaze from Melissa and stood up. She stroked the large bird's feathers.

"This is a Roc. It's known for having the ability to teleport and can grow in size depending on the situation." Maven stuck out her arm and the Roc shrunk down to the size of a normal hawk, landing on her forearm. I walked up and tried to pet the magical bird but it bit me. "It's also territorial."

"So how did you get it?"

"I'm a genius." Maven smirked and I rolled my eyes.

"Sure buddy, whatever you say." Maven chuckled at my tone and looked over at Melissa, or more specifically at Jade.

"A Moon Hare." Maven said and I looked at her in confusion. "That's what Jade is, a Moon Hare. They're quite rare, I'm surprised you found one let alone made it you're Familiar."

"What can a Moon Hare do?" I asked as Melissa played with Jade and she even took her Shadow Hounds out to meet her.

"Not much is known but it is said a Moon Hare's saliva has healing properties and can even be made into very soothing tea." Maven explained and I gave her a weird look.

'I would say that's gross but…I ate hot dogs all the time in my past life and I saw the documentary on how they're made so…yeah.' I shook my head and got back on topic. "Is that all?"

"Well they can also-"

"Look out!" Vargas' voice rang out and a large White Stag ran through, Vargas hot on its tail. The White Stag kept running and headed right for Melissa. The Shadow Leopard moved to dodge but before she could a green light shone and a biting cold was felt in the air. The White Stag was instantly immobilized in green ice and the light dimmed, showing that it came from Jade. The silence was deafening as we stared at the small rabbit.

"Do that." Maven finished her sentence and I looked at the rabbit in shock. Vargas walked up and stared at the frozen stag, then at Jade.

"Pierce…" Vargas spoke up and looked at me. "…I'll trade you." I smirked.

After taking Jade from Melissa, I asked her to unfreeze the stag and Vargas made the Contract (the White Stag kept some distance from Jade after that though). Not too long after Adrian came back with a Pegasus and Samantha brought a-

"Oh you've got to be kidding me…" I sighed as the ground rumbled and a giant golden spider (about 5 meters tall) walked into the clearing, Samantha smiling up a storm on top of it.

"I finally got one!" The healer exclaimed in happiness and hugged the spider. "I'm going to call him Roger. Say hi to your new sibling James!" The Shadow Crow appeared from Samantha's shadow and landed on her shoulder. And so we watched as the pretty blond healer introduced her creepy crow to her equally scary spider.

"…Okay so here's the plan." I turned to everyone watching and lowered my voice. "When we're fighting the next General, let Samantha's pets take the lead and then we'll all back off. When they die, we comfort Samantha then get her new, normal pets. Everyone understand?" They rolled their eyes at my bad joke (sure let's call it that) and everyone left the Familiars in the forest. Now that we have Contracts with them, we can automatically summon them without actually knowing magic. Jade however came with me and we walked back to the cabin. I was surprised to see Athena and Artemis there as well.

"Lady Athena, Lady Artemis." We all bowed and Athena gave me a weird look.

"That…sounds really weird coming from you." Athena said and I shrugged.

"Everyone else was doing it; I just went along with it."

"Yeah well, don't do that. It doesn't sound right coming from you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing, I'm just not used to you being so respectful." Athena said honestly.

"…I think you just insulted me."

"That's not true." Athena shook her head. "If anything, your eccentric personality towards authority is endearing!"

"Okay, that one was on purpose!" I exclaimed.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." The Goddess of War smirked and I gave her the stink eye. We heard a soft cough and looked over to see Demeter standing there. She looked between us with a raised brow.

"Are you two done? Or do you need more time to flirt?" I blinked at Demeter's accusation and looked back at Athena.

"Were we flirting? If so then we suck at it!" She chuckled at my joke. Demeter rolled her eyes and got to business; she got back all the necklaces and congratulated us on getting Familiars. She said that the forest was open to us when we needed more Familiars and wished us good luck in the future.

"May I?" Artemis walked up to me and outstretched her hand. She was looking at Jade so I picked her up and gave it to the Hunting Goddess. Artemis looked the small Familiar up and down, smiling when it nibbled on her finger. "She's quite young yet already impressive; very few remain so you take good care of her okay?"

"Of course." I received Jade from Artemis and I stepped on the platform with everyone else, then we were gone.

* * *

**Top of Olympus**

Everyone got off the platform and went off to their rooms; I caught up to Melissa who was taking Jade with her.

"Hey Melissa." I grabbed her hand and she turned back to me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" My Yokai girlfriend asked as she tilted her head.

"With what Demeter said I'd thought you'd be upset, you know with me and Athena flirting."

"…Were you?" Melissa asked but she seemed more curious then angry. Regardless I sighed and scratched the back of my head.

"Yeah, I guess I was. I'm sorry." I banter with the Goddess of War a lot but sometimes we do tease each other. "Look, while I swear it's harmless, if it bothers you I'll stop. I really like what we have and I don't want to do anything that puts that at risk, okay?" I tenderly squeezed Melissa's hand. I'm many things, some good plenty bad, but I'm not about to keep doing something that makes my girlfriend uncomfortable when I can easily stop. That'd just make me a dick (well…I kind of am one but…you get the idea). In some way, what I said was weird to Melissa as she looked at me with an odd face.

"…God I can't get a read on you." Melissa shook her head and pulled me in for a deep kiss. I could feel Jade being squashed between us and she fidgeted, trying to get out. Melissa pulled back and I blinked owlishly.

"So…you're not upset?"

"No Pierce, I'm not upset." Melissa smiled at me. "I mean you're pretty strong and nice, plenty of women will be attracted to you because of it."

"…Thanks for the vote of confidence but I don't know about that."

"They will." Melissa winked and started walking away. "I've come to terms with it so I'll be ready."

"Ready? Ready for what? Melissa?" I tried asking but Melissa just kept walking, all the way back to her room. '...I'm missing something here, but what is it!?' I thought about it until I reached my room. I never figured it out.

* * *

**1 Day Later, Side Garden**

The sun high in the sky shone on the beautiful garden; insects like bees and butterflies flew around with abandon and a peaceful aura filled the air. I was lying down on the grass, my whole body full of bruises and currently being healed by my Chi. I finished my daily session with Athena and my new training routine. It was quite simple really; Athena gives me a set quota to meet like dodging 10 of her punches or landing a hit on her 7 times. She would reduce her physical capabilities to my level and we would fight. Simple right? Here's the kicker. Imagine all my physical abilities like my strength, speed, and endurance being level 5, like a video game. Athena would reduce her abilities down to a level 6, not too high where I wouldn't have a chance in hell but just enough where I would need to really push myself to meet that quota. Every time I accomplished that, Athena would raise her physical abilities just a bit and then I would have to push myself again. It was a vicious but effective cycle; the last couple of days were spent doing that and Athena more than once switched things up. Sometimes she made me use Chi Skin during the spar and not let me lose it or we'd start over. Other times she would make Chi Animals to fight me, and sometimes I couldn't meet that quota, getting my ass handed to me. This was one of those days.

'At least it's getting easier to follow her movements.' I idly thought as I laid down, Jade sitting on my chest. 'I should be able to hit her more times tomorrow…then she'll up her strength again.' I sighed at the reality and looked at my arms. I channeled some Chi and started playing with it, making all kinds of things. I made toys, floating orbs, and even a bunny which Jade played with. My Chi Constructs were getting better every day and I smiled as Jade ran around with the Chi Bunny. I remembered asking Athena if there was a better (read: easier) way to getting stronger and Athena responded with, "Pierce, the path to great strength is often the simplest one" then she kicked me in the face.

"You look like hell." A voice rang out and I looked up to see Aphrodite standing over me. The Goddess of Beauty was with a tall Japanese man who was wearing a fancy kimono and looked very stern.

"Hey Aphrodite." I said sitting up and the man snorted.

"That's Lady Aphrodite for you."

"…Okay." I stared at the man then looked back at her. "So what's up Aphrodite, anything interesting going on?" The Goddess of Beauty smirked and the man scowled.

"Nothing really, I just came by to say thanks and reward you for saving my Emissary." Aphrodite pointed towards the man. "This is Akio Eiji, he's Sara's father." I looked at Akio and he stared back.

"Hey."

"Greetings." Akio lightly bow. "Thank you for saving my daughter, I hope you can relay my thanks to the rest of your team."

"I'll tell them." I promised and Akio nodded.

"Well then, I must be on my way, Lady Aphrodite." Akio nodded at the Goddess and made his leave. We watched him go and I laid back down. Aphrodite crouched down and watched me; I waited for her to say something.

"…"

"…"

"…You know I got nothing to do today so you're going to be crouching there for awhile." I finally couldn't take it and said my piece.

"Do you want my blessing?" Aphrodite dropped that offer.

"…What?" I was thrown for a loop (boy it felt weird being on the receiving end for once) and she stood up.

"Come on, I'll explain it to you at the dining hall. I'm hungry." Aphrodite spoke and turned to walk away.

"…Okay." I pulled my sore body to its feet and followed after the Goddess, Jade right behind me.

* * *

**Top of Olympus, Dining Hall**

The Dining Hall was a decent sized room with many intricate ornaments and pillars inside it. Soft music was constantly playing with servants on the side ready to serve the Olympian Gods and Goddess whenever they please. Today was an odd day for the servants as the Greek Goddess of Love, Beauty, and Pleasure came in to eat. The fact that Aphrodite came in wasn't the strange part, it was that she brought a male human and a rabbit made of Jade. After sitting down and serving the three of them (they gave the rabbit some fruit), the servants watched as Aphrodite asked the man a question and stopped in shock…before laughing her ass off.

It was a strange day indeed.

"Hahahahahahah." Aphrodite was laughing as I ate my food. "Hahaha…Ha…ha…oh that's beautiful. If that's not poetic then I don't know what is!" The Goddess of Beauty had a wide grin on her face

"…Are you done?" I deadpanned as I fed some more fruits to Jade.

"Oh you have got to admit that's funny. I mean the first Familiar you got is the same thing as you're first Chi Animal, that has to mean something!" Aphrodite chuckled a bit more before petting the small creature.

"Yeah, yeah it's a real hoot. You want to explain what you said before?" I had an idea on what she was talking about but I had to be sure.

"Sara gave up my blessing." Aphrodite spoke with a serious face. "She's still going to be an Emissary but she believes she's gotten complaint with our blessings."

"So she just gave it back, just like that?" I asked a bit shocked.

"She didn't give it back, she let it go. Blessings given can be done with the receiver however they like, Gods and Goddess' can't take them back. Of course there are rules we put on the blessings so they don't end up in the wrong hands; Sara chose to reject it and now it's gone." Aphrodite explained how blessings worked.

"So she's still going after Zeth even though she doesn't have your backing? Why?"

"Revenge." Aphrodite shook her head. "She blames Zeth for her party's destruction and wants to get back at him."

"...While I think she should have been ready for something like that to happen when agreeing to this, I don't really care. Why me though? Why not Adrian or some new Emissary? You have time till Zeth starts making big moves."

"Your right we could, but you're a better option." Aphrodite took a sip of water before continuing. "Adrian already has 3 blessings, the max a human can get and your team has already taken down 2 Generals. It just makes more sense to give you a blessing to help you along."

"Okay." I was tempted, not going to lie. A blessing like Aphrodite's where you can't be fooled by illusions sounds great and that was just what she gave Sara, she may have better ones. But… "What's the catch?"

"You swear allegiance to the Greek religion." Aphrodite shrugged and spoke honestly. "All Emissaries swore allegiance when they receive our blessing, that's why they have to be careful when going to other territories since they are a part of the Greek faction…I can already tell your answer."

"Yeah I can't accept that, sorry." I shook my head at her offer. It may not be much, but I really like my current freedom. There was a reason why the Gods chose humans to be their Emissaries and that was because humans were the most neutral race in all worlds. Why? Because as a whole, humanity is weak. Humans that aren't magicians, Sacred Gear holders, Holy/Demon users, or spirit inheritors are pretty low on the food chain in DxD. It was sad but it was the truth. I wasn't really offended when Adrian told me that the first couple of weeks I joined the team. I don't have a hard-on for proving humanity to be better than it was like Cao Cao does, I'm just trying to live a full life. And if you really think about it, they weren't wrong. A Satan-Class Devil like Serafall can cause an ice age on Earth within a week if no one bothered to stop her (she would never do that but she could). Humanity can do the same thing…just give them a couple hundred years, have them learn how nuclear fission works, spend an ungodly amount of money to build nukes, and launch them all. When the nuclear winter starts then we'll be close to what Serafall can single handedly do. And there are _plenty_ of beings stronger than Serafall. Moral of the story? The amount of damage humanity can do is far less than any other supernatural race so we're not really restricted on where we can go (of course strong humans like me, Adrian, Maven, etc. are still monitored).

'Huh, when I think about it like that…Cao Cao was an idiot.' Funny thing was that I liked Cao Cao as a character yet his goals were very stupid. I mean his greatest pride was his True Longinus yet that was created by the God of the Bible, one of the supernatural beings he swore to wipe out for humanity's sake. 'Bitch please; the greatest threat to humanity is humans. Devils, Dragons, Gods, and every other supernatural race have better things to do.'

"Well, if you're ever interested then let me know." Aphrodite nodded understandingly and continued eating. After eating a full course meal of probably the best food I've ever had (a godly cook for the Gods, makes sense) Aphrodite stood up. "Come on, let's go."

"Where are we going?" I quirked a brow but got up nonetheless.

"I said I'd give you a reward and we're going to go get it." Aphrodite walked out of the dining hall and I followed along, putting Jade on my shoulder.

"Not that I don't want one but what about the others? Everyone else helped kill Shiruku, it doesn't seem fair that only I get a reward." I also nearly killed Sara when I saved Yukan, getting a reward for that seems pretty bad.

"Because this is for me to give and if you don't want it then I'll just gift it to another." The Goddess of Beauty smiled and led me down a long hall. She stood in front of a large door and knocked on it twice, the gaps shone and it slowly opened. On the other side was a large set of stairs leading downward and even when I channeled Chi into my eyes I couldn't see the end. Just an endless black abyss.

"…You know if you wanted to kill me then you didn't need to bring me here. The garden would have been discreet enough." Aphrodite snorted at my joke.

"Yeah, well Akio saw you there and I didn't want any witnesses." Aphrodite smirked and she started walking down. Following along, I saw torches light up as we walked by and about 10 minutes later we came into a deep cavern. The walls were flat and simple pillars held up the interior, a gate was seen up ahead. Short guardsmen with halberds stood on both sides and they bowed when we approached.

"Lady Aphrodite." They spoke and one stepped forward. "Pardon my rudeness, but Lord Hephaestus does not like to be bothered when working. Can you please state your business?" My eyes widened when he finished.

'This is the smith God's home?' I nervously looked over at the door and rubbed my clammy hands. It wasn't Hephaestus himself that worries me so much…it's more of the fact that most of the legends on him are about his and Aphrodite's very messed up marriage. 'Okay, maybe she did bring me down here to kill me.'

"He knows I'm coming, he has something for this man here." Aphrodite pointed at me and took a bronze medallion. "This should be enough." The guardsmen took the medallion and nodded his head. Both guardsmen lifted their halberds and stuck the tips in two holes on the door, rumbling was heard shortly after. I could hear mechanisms moving in the door and with a final clang, the door opened. Aphrodite started walking forward but stopped when she noticed I wasn't following. "Are you coming?" I stared at the Goddess of Beauty and sighed.

"Jade, if I die here let Melissa know I love her…and that Aindrea is still a dick." I whispered to my pet rabbit (who just gave a cute tilt of the head) and walked into the room, the large doors closing behind me ominously.

* * *

**Hephaestus' Forge**

'…This is Hephaestus' workshop?'

A very high class room was on the other side of the door. Hard marble floors, bright lights on the ceiling, white pillars that held up the room and one side of the room looked like a high end bachelor pad (a bar, a beautiful fireplace, large sofas, and a…)

'Wait a minute.' My eyes widened and I snapped back to what I saw. 'Is that a…'

It was a TV. It was an actual TV. It looked very high tech too.

"…Aphrodite."

"Hm?"

"…Are we in the right place?"

"Yeah we are why do you ask? The Goddess of Beauty was curious about my reaction.

"Just…this wasn't what I was expecting." A man's laugh rang out when I finished and I looked to where it came from. A tall man walked towards us carrying a large hammer. He had puffy black hair, brown eyes, a full beard, and was quite burly. He was wearing grey robes with a smith's apron and gave us a warm smile.

"Everyone always says that, I never know if I should be offended or proud." Hephaestus nodded to us. "Hello young warrior, welcome to my home. How's it going Afro?" The smith God smirked at Aphrodite.

"It's been pretty alright, kind of boring but what can you do. Where's the thing I gave you?"

"It's in storage, I'll go get it." Hephaestus walked away to a room in the back and went inside. I blinked at the exchange and looked at Aphrodite.

"You guys seem close."

"Yeah, I mean we were married for a while so we got to know each other well." Aphrodite shrugged.

"Really? Then all the stories about you and him having problems were false?" I asked and Aphrodite didn't answer, looking away instead. There was a period of uncomfortable silence. "Um, you know what just forget I said anyth-"

"They're true." Aphrodite cut me off

"…All of them?"

"Yes, all of them." Aphrodite sighed and faced me. "Look I made a lot of mistakes in my past, many which ended up hurting him and I'm not going pretend they didn't happen."

"…You don't need to explain anything to me Aphrodite."

"I know." She rubbed her forehead. "But I should at least be honest about it, I owe Hephaestus that much."

"If they're true then how come you seem so close?" That wasn't the look of a man talking to someone who wronged him. Aphrodite gave a wry smile.

"He got over it. After a certain amount of time, he realized I wasn't worth his love and moved on…He's not wrong." I frowned at her forlorn tone.

"…Do you regret it?"

"Huh?" The Goddess of Beauty looked up in confusion.

"Do you regret your decisions?"

"…All the time."

"Then there you go." I shrugged and smiled at her confused face. "Aphrodite, bad people don't regret the bad things they've done and many "good" people don't own up to their mistakes. So as far as I'm concerned you're better than most, me included."

"…Thank you Pierce." Aphrodite smiled

"Anytime." I gave my father's patient goofy smile.

We heard Hephaestus coming back and he was carrying a wooden box in his hand. It had a lot of engravings on it and a golden lock. Setting down on a nearby table, we walked over and the smith God patted the box.

"Here it is, from what Aphrodite has told me, I'm curious about this myself." Hephaestus smiled and I raised a brow.

"Curious about what?" The smith God didn't answer, instead he took out a golden key and put it in the golden lock. Clicking off, Hephaestus opened the box and inside lay a sword. It was a large claymore with a golden handle, a red hilt, and I could feel the holy aura emitting from it. "Is that a?"

"It's a Holy Sword." Hephaestus smiled at my excited face. "The Sword of Damocles, it was created by the alchemists of Dionysius during his reign and it's a great weapon. Sharp enough to cut through tempered steel with ease but having the weight of a single hair. A worshiper of Aphrodite found it and gifted it to her."

"Wow." I stood in awe. "C-can I?"

"But of course." The smith God laughed. "That's the reason she brought you down here." I thanked Aphrodite for this chance but she waved her hand.

"I have no need for it, use it well." She gave me a supportive smile.

"I'll try to." After saying that, I turned towards the magic sword and slowly grasped the handle.

Then I felt a sharp pain and I immediately let go. My palm was burnt.

The silence was deafening.

* * *

**Maven's Room**

"…Are you still moping over there?" Maven looked up from her book and stared at my downcast form in the corner.

"You don't understand! My dreams are shattered! You hear me!? Shattered!" I dropped to my side and chose to lay there till doomsday came (actually Trihexa will be released in the modern day so that'll take a while). Maven shook her head at my act.

"So you can't use a Holy Sword, lots of people can't, it's not something to cry over."

"But I really wanted a magic sword…" I grumbled at the injustice of it all (I even tried using Touki but it still burned). Of course I couldn't use a Holy Sword, I probably should have seen this coming but I tried to stay optimistic. Here's a lesson for you boys and girls; never be optimistic about anything, try to be as negative as you can about your hopes and dreams so when they don't work out it's not too bad (actually if you do that, when you succeed it'll probably feel better). There was a way around it; if I remembered correctly Rossweisse put defense magic on her hand to block the adverse effect of using a Holy Sword. Problem? We had Vargas try it out and, surprise surprise, the spirit inheritor of Galahad (the perfect knight) could use the sword. Typically to tell if someone's a natural born Holy Sword user they need to grab a Holy Sword and it will react if they have the Property of Light inside them. And boy did that sword react to Vargas. Aphrodite offered to hold on to the sword until I could find a way to use it. So it was either have the Goddess of Beauty keep the sword, wait for me to learn defense magic, and finally be able to grab the Holy Sword or give it to Vargas who can actually use it to its full potential. The choice was obvious. 'This blows so hard.' But that didn't mean I liked it. Sighing once more, I caught the book Maven threw at my head.

"I didn't bring you here to mope around, come let's open your spiritual channel." Maven got up and walked over to me. I sat up and crossed my legs. "Have you felt your Spirit Core?"

"Yeah." I said and focused. A Spirit Core is the thing in your spirit that generates Spiritual Energy; I was able to feel it yesterday. Maven crouched and pointed her staff at my forehead; her Spiritual Energy slowly went inside. I felt it make its way into my spirit and find my Spirit Core. After grabbing it, she "pulled" and my formless Spiritual Energy came out into the air. Regular magicians with no teacher typically had to do months of mental exercises to bring out their Spiritual Energy (if they knew they had to do that). Many magicians' descendants like Lay Fay and Georg inherited their Ancestors' overwhelming Spiritual Energy, they have such a large amount a spiritual channel is naturally formed. I had an average amount but thanks to Maven making my channel for me I could skip that long step. 'Perks of knowing a super genius mage.'

"Alright I've done it. Now, tell me what you see." Maven smiled and I closed my eyes, reaching out with my new Spiritual Energy.

'Holy shit…' I was in awe. I could "see" lights of every color in the air and they were everywhere. There was red, blue, green, yellow, silver and even black light floating around. My Spiritual Energy reached out to touch them and the majority of them didn't react, the silver and green were the ones that came close. I opened my eyes and two light orbs floated in front of me. One was silver and the other was green.

"Now shape one." Maven instructed me and I got to work. I reached out a hand to the silver, letting go of the green for now, and the light started changing. It slowly morphed into the shape of a circle with chains interlocking within the lines. A gap was left in the center. This was the base form of a Norse magic circle. I learned to read basic Magical Languages and that was enough to do a 1st Order spell.

"How's this?" I looked at Maven and she observed my work, nodding her head after a short review.

"It's good, no smudged lines and it's quite stable."

"Thank god." I sighed in relief. Maven told me what happens when you put Mana inside an unstable magic circle. The spell will still go off but more likely than not it will blow up in your face. It was the same thing even for healing magic. Mana without stability is a dangerous thing.

"Now start writing."

I reached out with more Spiritual Energy and shaped it like a pen; I started writing on the magic circle. The first spell Maven gave me was a Norse strengthening spell and it was quite strong among 1st Order spells. I sweated as I wrote down the magic symbols and by the time I was finished I just barely had enough to keep myself conscious (exhausting your Spiritual Energy is almost as bad as using up all your Chi). The magic circle shone in silver light and I felt something brand itself onto my mind. The spell collapsed but I didn't care as I looked into my mind and saw…the same one floating in black space. It wasn't the same part of my mind my Chi was in but the magic circle was definitely in my head.

"Pierce." Maven called me and I opened my eyes, she was smiling down on me. "Congratulations, you're a 1st Order Magician now."

"T-there was a magic circle in my head." I gestured with my hands and Maven chuckled

"Yep, that's how we magicians use magic. We make a magic circle and it becomes engraved in our minds, we call on them when we need it." Maven tilted her head and made an amused smile. "Did you think I just remembered every spell I've ever learned?"

"…I just figured you had a really good memory."

"If only." Maven shook her head and tossed me a bottle. "Drink that, it will replenish your Spiritual Energy." I looked at the clear liquid inside before popping the cork and drinking. It tasted like vanilla as my Spiritual Energy was replenished.

"How many of these can you drink at a time?" I asked curious. Something like this had to have a limit or you can spam spells without worry.

"You can drink 2 a day."

"What happens if you go over that?"

"Nothing, you just waste a bottle. There's only a certain amount of Spiritual Energy your core can squeeze out a day and drinking more won't make it bigger." Maven explain

"Oh." I thought there would be some side effects but I guess not. I held out my hand and said, **"Gryttr Ham." **The same Norse magic circle I created instantly appeared on my hand and a silver glow covered my body. I touched my skin and it felt like rock, I hit the floor and a small crater appeared. My hand felt perfectly fine.

"…Pierce, please don't put a hole in my room." Maven deadpanned and I blushed in embarrassment. She waved her hand and a magic circle appeared over the damage, reversing it. "Now that you can create a magic circle, let's go make it official."

"Official?"

"You are a 1st Order magician now but getting the Magic Association's stamp of approval will help you out in the long term." Maven explained. She told me about the Magic Association's director and that I needed to meet him to really begin my magic path. After Zeus' Emissary died, Zeth's Generals seemed to have retreated into his dimension so we had some free time. "We'll go tomorrow in the morning, don't worry it's more formality than anything." I nodded and got up to leave but stopped.

"Hey Maven." I turned to the mage. "Who is this director we're going to meet?" I felt like it was important but I couldn't remember why.

"He's the Chairman of Grauzauberer and the Devil that formed a pact with Johann Georg Faust, Mephisto Pheles."

* * *

And done. Pierce has learned some magic and now it's time for his third meeting with a Devil, here's hoping it goes better then the last 2 times. I hope you enjoyed!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	20. Chapter 19

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**grimmouse197:** I know right? Females should just tell a man straight up what they want instead of dropping vague hints, I fully agree with you. Now...GO TELL THAT TO THE MAJORITY OF WOMEN IN THE WORLD! (I'm not mad at you, these are my feelings on the matter). Every girlfriend I've ever had, every girlfriend my friend's have had, and I've even asked my own sisters on the topic of woman "subtly", that's just how a lot of them are. It's a stupid cliche but it's a cliche that exists in real life. Now, Melissa won't be that painfully slow on getting her feelings on the topic across but I can't have her just say "Hey Pierce, I'm perfectly fine with you dating other women and making a great big harem!" that would be very unrealistic (even in DxD).

**NazgulBelserion:** He's not dense to harems, it's just how he is. Pierce is a hot blooded male who loves women (like lots of straight guys) but he's nowhere near Issei's level. When Melissa said "I'll be ready" Pierce thought she meant that she'll hold them off or something like that. The first thing that pops into a guy's mind when his girlfriend says something like that is NOT "Oh, so she's cool if I date multiple women? Neat." I don't care what you try to say, no guy's mind works like that. If you do, then I have no idea how you have a girlfriend (hell, even Rias hasn't said that straight up to Issei and she accepts his lustful dream).

**HollowSeven:** Thanks man, I'm glad you're enjoying it. I get what you mean though and don't worry, by the end of this Pierce will be a walking force of nature (It is a SI so that's kind of the point). But I have to admit, it really isn't fun writing about a guy that gets everything handed to him. If I give Pierce a Holy Sword, then next I would give him an overpowered Familiar, then a godly armor, then a Longinus class sacred Gear, then a...You get the point. I might as well write about Vali then since that guy has everything handed to him and he's really liked. Point is, I'm not going down the path where everyone else is stronger then Pierce but he's decently strong. Nope, Pierce will make it to the top but he'll earn his place with blood, sweat, and a _lot_ of tears.

* * *

**Chapter 19: An Emperor Vs an Irregular**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I'll do it justice and thoroughly explore Ichiei's creation. I own the OC's. Pierce will do it all and then some.

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - _**"Jumon"**_

Inner Voice _-_**'Sup'**

* * *

The Titanomachy.

The great battle between the Titans of Mount Othrys and the Olympians. The Titans were the Primordial Gods before the Greek Gods. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades were the first of Chronos' children and they lived in the ancient times. Growing under their loving mother and stern father, the Trinity made a place for themselves in the Ancient Era and life was simple, as simple as a God's life could be anyway.

Then Chronos overthrew his father and ruler of the Titans, Uranus.

No one knew the exact reason. Some said Chronos grew tired of his father's cruel rule and wanted to change it. Others said Gaia tempted the Titan to seek out his birthright. Most just didn't care. The Trinity at the time had no love for their Grandfather and did nothing when their Father came into power. So Chronos ruled Mount Othrys for a time, implementing new regulations, building statues in his honor, and partaking wars with other Ancient mythologies. The Primordial God of Time seemed to be a lesser evil compared to Uranus and an even bigger tool, so no one bothered the Titan king's reign.

Then something changed.

Chronos became nervous and paranoid about his children, constantly on edge whenever they made a move. He thought they were going to take his throne from him and Chronos couldn't let that happen. So he invited his 3 children to his castle one day and hatched a ploy to solidify his rule. Creating a pocket dimension, Chronos trapped Poseidon and Hades inside it while Zeus barely escaped that day. He sent his fellow Titans to hunt down the young God not knowing that his sister-wife, Rhea, gave Zeus asylum. The pocket dimension was a prison and it would slowly leech Poseidon and Hade's Divine Power, feeding it to Chronos. The dimension was inside a necklace and he never let it leave his sight. Years would pass and Chronos never found Zeus. Afraid his son would come back for revenge, Chronos sought even more power. Sleeping with his wife, she became impregnated and the children inside her belly would suffer the same fate as Poseidon and Hades.

Rheas saw her chance. She hated Chronos for what he had become and hatched a plan. Giving birth to her triplets (Hera, Demeter, and Hestia) Chronos came for them and Rhea gave them up. Along with a fourth "child". Telling Chronos that she gave birth to 4 children, the Titan king didn't think much about it and placed them inside his necklace. Rhea was a Primordial Goddess known for her ancient illusion magic and puppetry. Casting her strongest illusion spell, Chronos never saw that the fourth "child" was actually a rock. The rock was Rhea's invention and she called it the Omphalos. The moment it entered the necklace Chronos knew something was wrong but it was too late. The Omphalos activated and ripped apart the dimensional prison, effectively shattering the sealing space and taking the five prisoners into the Dimensional Gap. Chronos didn't have the chance to do anything. Enraged by his wife's betrayal, Chronos faced the exhausted Rhea (she used all her Divine Power on the Omphalos) and demanded why she did it.

"I did what any mother would have done." Rheas said with a weary but satisfied smile.

Then Chronos killed his wife. Years passed with no one knowing what had occurred, Chronos ruled Mount Othrys and for a time his reign was unchallenged. Then the Olympians came. Declaring war against the Titans, the fighting began and after much bloodshed, Mount Olympus was victorious. Many Titans were imprisoned inside Mount Olympus and for centuries Zeus periodically placed new sealing spells on the old ones, strengthening the prison. As far as the Gods were concerned, the prison was impenetrable.

'Here I thought our time of arrogance was over.' Zeus shook his head at his folly. The God King always looked back on his younger years and was for the most part ashamed. All the years of debauchery, sin, and overall chaos was not a time of pride for Zeus. 'Not anymore anyway.'

"_**O Antiqui Obsignandi.**_**" **Hera finished her chant and a massive magic circle appeared over their heads. They were currently inside Mount Olympus, standing on a platform over a massive pit and the magic circle slowly lowered. The air rippled as a dome like barrier appeared and seals started stretching across the surface. The Queen of Olympus sweated as her spell branded itself on the barrier and when she finished, she stumbled. Zeus quickly caught his wife. "I'm fine." Hera gave a weary smile and Zeus frowned at this.

"…I'm sorry." The King of Olympus sighed and apologized. Hera chuckled.

"You say sorry a lot you know that?" Hera couldn't count the number of times Zeus has apologized for something he did.

"Yeah well, this time I mean it."

"…So you didn't mean it in the past?" Hera narrowed her eyes and Zeus started visibly sweating.

"No! I mean not No! I mean- That wasn't what I meant…" Zeus' voice got really low by the end of his sentence and Hera chuckled. She stood up and dusted herself off.

"I should go and rest, don't stay here too long okay?" Hera gave Zeus a small kiss and made her way back to their room. The God King watched his wife leave before sighing.

"…Over a thousand years of marriage and she can still whip you into place." Hestia spoke up from the corner of the platform, fully forgotten by the pair. Hestia was very similar to her sister Hera but she was smaller in height, had blue eyes, and her hair was blond. Zeus snorted at his sibling's jab.

"Oh yeah? Then maybe I should tell her how it was you who helped me get past Argus?" Zeus smirked when his sister paled.

"N-Now let's be reasonable. That'll just get both of us in trouble." Hestia pleaded with Zeus not to tell Hera. At the time, the Goddess of the Hearth owed Zeus so she helped him get past the monster. While Hera eventually found out, Hestia was able to avoid her wrath by framing Hermes. The Queen of Olympus is quite terrifying when angered.

"I was already punished, she won't do it again." Zeus shrugged and sneered. "You, who hasn't been punished for it though…" A giddy feeling welled up in his stomach when he saw his sister's appalled look.

"Y-You!" Hestia looked at Zeus in anger. "Then I'll tell her it was you who slept with that Princess from Crete!"

"Oh really!? Then I'll tell her how you helped Hermes cheat in that boxing match against Ares!"

"Fine! Then I'll just tell her how you…"

This went on for a while. Both Gods went back and forth, threatening to tell the Queen of Olympus what the other had done. By the time they were finished, they were both out of breath and looked at each other. Then they chuckled.

"We were a bunch of idiots." Hestia shook her at all the stupidity they had done over the years. 'If I really think about it, Hades was probably the most normal one among us…wow, that's a scary thought.' Zeus' smile wavered at his sister's comment and he looked down at the pit.

"We still are…" He sighed and Hestia frowned.

"Brother, no one blames you for what happened. We agreed on keeping the central array the same, it was all our faults." Hestia sighed when his expression didn't change. "Just…don't think about it too much, okay?" Hestia didn't get an answer and walked away. Zeus stayed there, looking down into the endless hole. It's not like the Olympians were doing nothing while the Emissary's went after Zeth. Hera, Zeus, and Hestia were putting new sealing spells over the old ones to build another wall of containment. Sadly, even if they worked around the clock it wouldn't matter. There were thousands of spells placed on the prison which was done since the end of the Titanomachy; the amount of time needed to build a new wall that could match the old one would take just as long. That's the reason they kept the array the same, with all the constant improvements to the outer wall, the foundation needed to stay firm and singular. Something Zeth fully exploited.

Zeus took a step forward and fell down, freefalling into the pit. Minutes passed as he kept falling and the wind picked up, showing his increasing velocity. He passed many cages that floated in the empty space, each one containing a still body within. Some looked human and were normal size, while others were dozens of meters tall with supernatural aspects. After passing an extra large molten figure, Zeus' falling speed abruptly stopped and he lightly floated to the floor of the prison. He looked around and his eyes fell on a platform, a figure could be seen kneeling there. Glowing chains locked him down and multiple seals were personally placed on his body. The figure looked up and locked eyes with the King of Olympus before chuckling grimly.

"That's a good look on you, shame and regret." The figure looked back down and became silent. The form of a man could be barley made out. He had long gray hair, a full beard, was very skinny and had a pair of eagle wings that had seen better days. Zeus walked up to the man and said in a monotone voice.

"Father."

"Is that what I am now? Father?" Chronos seemed amused by that. "Then what kind of son are you for treating your father like this?"

"…You were never a true father Chronos." Zeus kept his tone flat before continuing. "But that does not change the fact you are mine."

"Oh you and your philosophical word play. Just like your whore of a mother." Chronos grinned as he got a reaction from his son. "Oh did I strike a nerve? Funny, when I trapped your brothers and your mother, you didn't even bat an eye, I guess you didn't inherit her patience. That was her one good trait. Well…besides the other one." Chronos said as he licked his lips and it took all of Zeus' willpower not to rip the Primordial God's head off. He rubbed his fingers as lightning sparked between them and he took a deep breath.

"I did not come down here for th-"

"I know why you're here." Chronos interrupted him and looked down. "What? You thought some small talk and a visit will magically let the past go?"

"…You started all that Father, we just finished it." Zeus said sternly and Chronos' eyes went red.

"You were all mine!" Chronos moved to stand but the chains didn't budge. "You all came from me! Hades, Poseidon, even you, all your powers came from me! I had every right to take it back! Your fucking mother didn't understand so I-" He abruptly stopped and looked Zeus in the eyes. Then he chuckled before laughing out loud. Zeus didn't react to any of this; he knew this was a lost cause. But you can't say he didn't try.

Here's the thing, every faction be it the Gods, Yokai, Angels, even the Devils in the underworld. They all followed an unwritten code when it came to prisoners of war, 'In war there is no good or evil, there are just sides'. While this did not stop experimentation or abuse, execution is considered a horrid offence. So they lock away the prisoners and put them all in stasis, the caged never know the passage of time as their sentence is done. Be it in Olympus' Prison or Cocytus, this rule was kept for every prisoner and very few exceptions were made.

Chronos was one of those exceptions.

As much as Zeus wanted to leave the Titan King down here in the darkness alone for the rest of his days, he did not do this. He thought of something _much_ better. You see, Chronos was a very flawed being vanity, greed, paranoia, etc. he had them all. But if there was one thing he hated above all, it was his presence being ignored. So Zeus gave him a different punishment. Along with Hera and Demeter, they put a brand on Chronos' sight that allowed him to see everything. Not literally everything but all the things they wanted him to see. He saw images of the current Mount Othrys, of the Olympian's escapades over the years, and he saw random corners of his previous territories. How was this punishment? Because it showed the arrogant Titan King something. That the world moves on without him. That for all his power and previous glory, time did not care and will gladly continue turning. So Chronos watched as he was slowly forgotten by the world, forgotten and abandoned.

All because he was a power hungry coward.

"Go back Zeus." Chronos stopped laughing at some point and lowered his head. "Wait for Zeth to release us because no one will back down. But you already made sure of that didn't you?"

"…" Zeus gave one last look to his father before turning around and walking away. Chronos was right; Zeus very much earned the Titan's hatred. How? By butchering the families of all the warrior Titans. The Primordial Gods knew they were going to lose the war so they sent out their families to keep them safe. Zeus found them and was met with a choice, keep the moral high ground or end a potential future threat. He'll admit that wasn't his finest moment.

"You sure have a knack for that don't you?" Zeus stopped and looked back at the smiling Chronos. "Every mistake you make comes back to haunt you and everyone else suffers for it."

"…Yeah, you're right." Zeus slowly floated up. "I must have gotten that from you." He didn't turn back as he flew out of the prison, Chronos' face full of rage.

* * *

**Magician's Association**

After the portal closed, I looked around and saw we were in a large lobby. Many tables and sofas were put everywhere with a large reception desk in the middle. Many people walked around in robes like Maven's, some were reading while others talked to the receptionist for something. I could see many doors everywhere that had portals and magicians kept coming in and out. It was quite busy.

"…Yeah I got nothing."

"What do you mean?" Melissa asked (she wanted to come along).

"I have no material to work with here. Everything's too normal." I shook my head in disappointment.

"…What?"

"Let's go make an appointment." Maven walked towards the reception. Behind the desk sat a blond woman who was wearing a clean cut robe and she looked at us with cool blue eyes. Her name tag read Lea.

"Hello, how may I help you?" Lea spoke in a professional tone.

"We're here to register my friend as a 1st Order magician." Maven explained and Lea nodded. She grabbed a book from under the desk and opened it, a long list of names were on the page.

"I can fit you in for a meeting at 5:30."

"That works, thank you." Maven nodded at the woman and she led us to the side to wait.

"What are we going to do for an hour and a half?" I asked as I sat down on a large sofa, Melissa sitting next to me.

"Here." Maven passed me a book and on the cover it said "The Magician Association". "That should give you an idea on the Association's structure."

"…You like reading way too much." I sighed before opening the book.

_In the early days of humanity, even before King Solomon's reign, many magician groups existed. They studied the laws of nature and found they could bend it to do many miraculous things. They could control the elements, cure the greatest ailments and even warp life itself. Many groups sought knowledge and they eventually found supernatural races. But sadly these races were hostile and cruelly oppressed many magic users. This caused magicians to do what humanity did best; unite._

"…Really?" I deadpanned

"I know, just ignore the first part." Maven wryly smiled and went back to her own book. Melissa was resting her head on my lap and petting Jade. Sighing, I continued reading.

_Many Organizations like the Golden Dawn, Rosenkreuzer, Grauzauberer, etc. came together and formed the Magician Association. While they didn't completely meld together, the organizations still pooled their resources and created many safe points in the world for magicians. Those with the aptitude for magic could join any group and learn under the masters of magic. Many benefits are given to those that join the Association; wealth, protection, power, and even nobility. It wasn't always like this however. Many different leaders tried to make rules in favor against the other and fights quickly broke out. Eventually a decision was met, the Organizations would appoint a director to oversee the Association and set guidelines. A director was appointed, Merlin was once offered the title but rejected it, and when that one died another would be elected._

'And the current director is Mephisto.' I shut the book and looked up at a clock on the wall. It's been 15 minutes. '…It took me that long to read that?' Feeling mildly embarrassed, I looked around. Maven was still reading her book and Melissa was talking to the receptionist, Lea. Whatever they were talking about must have been interesting as Melissa was gesturing with her hands and Lea had an amused smile. I patted Jade and laid back on the sofa, watching the clock slowly tick away. '…I'm waiting for an appointment with the Devil to join an exclusive magic club with my genius teacher and Yokai girlfriend…yep, I'm already bored.' Sighing, I sat up and crossed my legs. My mind slowly became calm and I prepared to enter Zen Mode. 'It's not like anything's going to happen her-'

"Well, well, look who's here." A nasally and hostile voice rang out.

"Oh come on, I didn't even say that out loud!" I yelled in outrage and pointed at where the voice came from. A young man with brown hair, a large nose, and hazel eyes looked shocked at my outburst. Behind him were a man and woman. The man was tall and very muscular; he was black and looked Latino. The woman was on the shorter side with short blue hair, grey eyes, and a pretty face. I blinked as everyone in the room looked at me strangely. Maven just shook her head in exhaustion and stared at the young man.

"What do you want Simon?" Maven said in an ice cold tone. The young man named Simon sneered down at the mage.

"I'm just surprised you have the nerve to show up here." Simon said and Maven just glared.

"Where I go is none of your concern. Now if you're here to admit you'll never amount to anything as a mage then please don't let me stop you." Maven smirked and Simon huffed.

"Big talk from a Golden Dawn reject."

"Reject? Really? That's funny because I remember rejecting and then cutting your uncle down to half the man he was that day. Then again, there wasn't much man there to cut."

"Fuck you!" Simon tried to move forward but he didn't get far as I appeared in front of him a second later. He stumbled backwards and pointed his staff at me; a magic circle appeared in front of me. Activating Touki, I reached out through the magic circle and shattered it to pieces. The spell must have been a fire one since a mild heat hit me but with Touki it did nothing. I grabbed Simon by the throat and hoisted him up. The magician struggled and flailed about, the two people behind him moved to help but a voice rang out.

"Enough." Lea spoke softly from the desk (she wasn't loud yet we could hear her clearly). Dozens of magic spells appeared around us and they all faced us. Gravity became heavier and chains encircled us like a dome. "Put him down." Lea commanded and I stared at the purple faced Simon (the increased gravity was affecting him more than me) before dropping him. Gravity went back to normal and Simon coughed on the floor, looking completely ragged. Lea walked up to us and looked down at the coughing mage. "You should know better than to do that here Simon."

"…It was reflex." Simon sweated as Lea looked down on him.

"Right…" Lea coldly said. "Don't let it happen again." She turned towards me. "As for you…

"He started it." I shrugged as I deactivated Touki.

"…And for that I apologize." Lea bowed and I blinked owlishly.

"R-really? You're not going to say I was wrong for attacking him because he's the son of some powerful mage here and have to chase me out to save face? Ultimately for me to become some grandmaster magician somewhere else and make you regret doing so?"

"No."

'…She didn't even pause.' I nodded my head in respect and pointed at her. "You…you have potential."

"Thank you." Lea's face didn't change then either. "Simon is an experienced member and he shouldn't have reacted like he did, he will be held accountable." Simon's face grimaced at that.

"See to it that you do. Children these days don't understand humility." I shook my head solemnly.

"You are right. It's better to know restraint earlier on to avoid future problems." Lea fully agreed with me.

"…"

"…"

"…I'm sorry, what are we doing?" I was honestly stumped, I've never gotten this far before without confusing someone.

"What do you mean?" Lea tilted her head in wonder.

"You were playing along right?"

"Playing along to what?" Lea looked at me with completely honest eyes.

'…Oh no.' I started sweating and looked at Lea in fear. 'Oh good God no…my one true weakness…a literal person.' Yukan was gullible but at least he was still confused.

"Are you okay?" Lea asked in worry.

"Y-Yes!" I jumped at her question. "I mean- I'm fine. I-I'm just being dramatic."

"Oh, you do theater? Have you been in any plays? If so which ones, I've seen a couple myself." Lea seemed genuinely interested and asked.

"…" I need to get out of here.

"…What is happening?" Melissa asked Maven as they watched the scene in front of them.

"…Melissa, I never know." Maven sighed and moved to save me from Lea. The receptionist went back to the front desk and we walked to one of the doors, apparently one of them led to a restaurant Maven knew. We didn't get far as Simon once again got in our way. I sighed.

"Look dude, I like a good cliché but the one where the bratty young lord gets his ass handed to him and later dies because he couldn't let it go is overused." They all looked at me with strange looks.

"…Maven." Simon chose to ignore me. "I have an offer for you."

"I want nothing from you Simon." Maven said and moved to pass but Simon outstretched his hand.

"Not even this?" Simon smirked and held up a palm sized ornamental mirror. Maven stopped dead in her tracks and stared at the small mirror.

"The Mirror of Isis…" Maven's voice wavered at the end and Simon smirked harder.

"Of course you would recognize it, it's what you've been looking for all this time."

"What do you want?" Maven seemed nervous now as she eyed the artifact.

"The Arena." Simon smiled arrogantly. "You versus me. If you win, then I'll hand this over."

"And if I lose?" Maven narrowed her eyes.

"You know what I want." Simon pointed at Maven's very sizable chest and a greedy look appeared in his eyes.

"…Maven just say the word, I'll snap his scrawny neck this time." I took a step forward and cracked my knuckles. Simon stepped back in fear and the tall Latino man from before moved in front of me. A feral smile was on his face. Melissa placed her hands on her daggers and the blue haired women appeared by her side, her hand on her rapier. Maven ignored the tension in the air as she moved to touch her necklace. It was a red orb being held by a silver hand.

"We'll be waiting by the Arena; I hope you make up your mind soon." Simon smiled victoriously once more before walking away, his 2 members following along.

'…Something about that guy is really setting me off.' I frowned once they left. I wasn't talking about Simon though, it was the Latino man. My instincts were telling me he was dangerous but I didn't know how. 'I mean his aura is quite pitiful compared to mine yet I can't help but feel he's dangerous. Is he a magician?' I shook my head and looked at Maven. She was really quiet. "Maven?" The mage looked up and stared at me. "You want to explain what all that was about?"

"…Okay." Maven sighed and looked around. "Come with me." We followed the mage to a door and she led us inside. She explained how this was a meeting room that others use to make deals and she activated the noise canceling spells on the wall.

"So what's up Maven? Who was that guy and what was that mirror?" I also wanted to ask about that Latino man but the others took priority. Maven sat down and stayed quiet before speaking.

"Simon is the nephew of Golden Dawn's former vice leader."

'Called it.' I thought that with an internal snort and Maven continued.

"When I graduated from my magic school I entered the Magician's Association and tried to join Golden Dawn." Maven made a disgusted face. "Though the vice leader made me an offer I couldn't agree with and he…didn't take it well."

"…Did you kill him?" I tried asking and Maven just looked at me. I got my answer. "Okay…but why did you react that way towards that mirror?"

"Do you remember what I told you about my parents?" Maven asked that question and I was puzzled on where that came from. I nodded. "It has to do with them." Maven took off her necklace and offered it to me; I held it and looked it over.

"It's cool and all but…what does that have to do with what's going on now?"

"My parents were researching on a way to draw on the chaotic Mana from the Dimensional Gap." Maven got to the point and I was shocked.

"R-really?" Now that got my attention. One of the things Maven burned into my head was that human Magicians had 2 clear disadvantages compared to supernatural beings. Number 1 is that humans don't have innate abilities like other races with few exceptions (Vargas as a spirit inheritor was such an exception). Number 2 is that all supernatural races beat humans when comparing energy output. Just like I called upon that silver light to make a strengthening spell, there was a limit to how many there can be in a certain area. For example, if you were to go to a volcano then there would be fire Mana everywhere with minute amounts of water Mana. If you went to a tropical jungle there would be lots of water, earth, and wood Mana but barely any metal. If I wanted to do a 3rd Order or above strengthening spell (which needs metal Mana) in the jungle it would be nigh impossible. Beings like Devil's and Angel's don't have this limitation because they have their own source of Mana right in their body. Thankfully there was a way around this and that would be for Magician's to make a link with a realm. Yes, I said realm. Bear with me. If you were an elementalist with a real talent for ice magic then you would make a link with the Norse Hell, Niflheim, a place filled with nothing but ice and water. Or if you like Black magic then the Greek's Realm of the Dead is your cup of tea. The thing is that many realms are ruled by a supernatural being, Hel and Hades for the ones mentioned. You would need their permission to draw upon the Mana of their realm. Really, everything goes back to supernatural races when it comes to magic. But there is one realm that's completely free and has no supernatural being ruling it.

The Dimensional Gap. It's a literal endless void filled with every type of chaotic Mana and if you try to enter without some form of magical protection then you're pretty much dead. Many magicians have tried over the years to harness its power and only one human group has succeeded. The Wizards of Oz. Using their newfound power source, the wizards created a domain the size of a country inside the gap and separated from the human world almost entirely. Countless researchers tried to replicate what they did but they've all failed.

"My parents were close; they could draw a small amount of Mana from the Dimensional Gap but they were improving every day." Maven spoke with an incredibly proud voice. "All their research is inside that necklace." I looked at the necklace in wonder.

"Well I'll be damned…" Maven's parents were really something. "You sure as hell are doing them proud." I smiled and tossed the necklace back to Maven. She caught it and blushed slightly.

"Thanks…" She lowered her head and coughed. "Anyway, my parents were working on the link one day and…something happened." I quirked a brow.

"What?"

"I have no idea." Maven shrugged. "I'm serious! No one knows what happened, there was a huge surge and they just vanished!" She quickly explained when I deadpanned.

"How long ago was this?" Melissa asked and Maven became downcast.

"…It's been 12 years."

"Oh Maven…" Melissa put a comforting hand on the mages shoulder and brought her into a hug. The odds of her parents being dead are pretty high at this point but I wasn't about to say that.

"And the mirror?" I asked

"It's an artifact created by the Egyptian Goddess Isis. When you put a drop of blood on it shows you the current status of your mother." Maven said.

'Ah, so that's why she reacted that way.' I nodded my head in agreement. Simon did say she was looking for it and I would want it if my parents were missing. "And the Arena?"

"It's a location in the Association where magicians fight and gamble. It's monitored by very strong space spells that retire the participant before they take fatal damage. Of course it isn't always a guarantee but the chance of dying is pretty low."

'So it's basically like the Rating games.' I guess Ajuka didn't create the concept for the barrier, just the game. I looked down at the Maven who was deep in thought. "Shall we?"

"Huh?" Maven looked up in confusion.

"I mean it's your choice, but if you're going to fight then count me in."

"Me too." Melissa smiled and said. Maven smiled at us in gratitude but she shook her head.

"I can't."

"And why not?" I asked, folding my arms.

"I can't gamble my parent's life work like this."

"Don't you have copies?"

"It's not that Pierce." Maven shook her head and stood up. "My parents were the closest magicians to harnessing the Mana of the Dimensional Gap like the Wizards of Oz. What if I lose? Then Simon will have the work my family painstakingly gained."

"And if you win, then you'll know if your mother's alive or not. Possibly along with your father." I said back and she went quiet.

"…He doesn't deserve it."

"Then we won't lose." I shrugged and smiled. "Whatever decision you make we'll have your back." Maven stared at me and Melissa gave a supportive squeeze. The mage stood deep in thought before looking up, conviction hard in her eyes.

"Let's do it." I couldn't smile harder.

We walked out of the room and made our way to the Arena. When we got there, Simon and his two followers were sitting on the side. He smirked in our direction.

"About time you-"

"Yeah yeah, you're an entitled little shit with an inferiority complex, even your aura says that and I didn't even know that was a thing. Let's do this!" I interrupted him and Maven didn't bother holding back a laugh. Simon glared at me but quickly backed up when I flared my Chi.

"Let's begin." Maven spoke and walked to a large platform. We all got on and the receptionist Lea also walked up. Simon called her over earlier to set up a match.

"Can the participants place the bets in here please?" Lea held up a circular tray and the 2 mages walked up. Simon put down the Mirror of Isis and one side of the tray shone green. Maven sighed in relief at this and took off her necklace. She hesitated for a bit before looking back at me. I gave her an encouraging smile and she smiled back. She put the necklace down and both objects sank into the silver. "I wish both parties best of luck." Lea bowed and took a step back. Light appeared from under us all and then we were gone.

* * *

**Arena**

Maven, Melissa, and I ended up inside a large room. The walls were concrete and a set of stairs led upstairs. I walked up the flight of stairs and opened a door that led to a roof. I looked over the edge and was met with the city of London except without the usual bustle the great city had. I was standing on the Tower of London as Maven and Melissa stood on either side of me. I activated Chi Vision and immediately sensed the other party.

"They're walking up to the tower togeth- Oh? Never mind they're splitting up." I told them the current situation.

"What are they doing? Can you tell who is who?" Maven asked and I nodded.

"The woman is trying to come in from the left gate and Simon is walking up the side garden."

"And the last one?" Maven asked and I didn't answer, choosing to look down instead. They followed my gaze and saw the large man standing in front of the main gate. He looked up right at us and gave a bloodthirsty smile. "…Someone's confident."

"I'll deal with him." I said and Maven nodded.

"I'll take the woman." Melissa said and walked up to me. She kissed me good luck and sunk into the shadows. Maven slowly floated up and flew over to the side garden.

"Go home Jade. I'll call you if I need you." I petted my Familiar who was on my shoulder and she teleported back. The man slowly walked up the path and I turned to walk down the stairs. Stopping, I stared at the ledge and slowly smiled. Activating Touki I leaped over the edge and fell all the way down.

"Superhero landing!" I landed on one knee, creating a large crater on impact. I looked up and smiled at the tall man.

"…You're very odd." That was all he said as he stopped a small distance away from me. I stood up and dusted myself off (superhero landings sure get you dusty).

"I get that a lot." I looked at the man. "I have to ask, why are you following that douche bag? You don't seem the bratty type."

"He pays well." He shrugged. "And he promised me something." I quirked a brow at that.

"What did he promise you?"

"Strong opponents." The man lifted his hand shortly after and a bright red glow covered it. When it dimmed, he was wearing a red gauntlet with a large green jewel on the back with 2 golden spikes-

'…Oh shit.' My eyes widened to the size of saucers and my mouth gaped open.

"Balance Breaker." The man spoke softly as the rest of his body glowed red. Armor started appearing from the gauntlet and covered his entire body.

'…_Oh shit_.'

Dragon wings popped out his back and they flapped, slowly bringing him up.

'…OH MOTHERLOVING SHI-'

"My name is Gael Baleen and I'm the Red Dragon Emperor, let's have a good fight!" Gael's aura flared and he got into a fighting pose.

"…"

"…"

"…Yeah. I should have seen that coming." Gael dived bombed towards me and I jumped to the side, narrowly missing his foot. I kicked him in the chest and he was sent flying back, his feet skidding across the floor. I Chi Burst in front of him and punched him right in the face. His helmet cracked slightly, he tried kneeing me in the stomach but I blocked it. I punched him three times and head butted him. Dodging a punch to my face, I grabbed him by the shoulders and tossed him straight through the tower, the building came crashing down on him. When the dust settled, I saw him dig himself out of the rubble and I created dozens of Chi Swords. I sent them his way and he quickly flew up, barely missing the projectiles. I crouched down and leaped in the air, leaving a crater where I jumped. I flew towards Gael and poured a large amount of Chi into my arm.

"Wha-" Gael didn't react as I decked him right in the face and sent him flying back into the rubble. He was slammed deep in the rocks and I tried to land on him but he back flipped out of the way. Gael coughed some blood through his helmet and laughed. "Now this is what I call a fight! Let's spice things up! _**Boos**__-_"

"How about no!?" I punched him extra hard in the face and he was sent reeling back. I could feel the difference though. 'His armor got harder.' I frowned as Gael nonchalantly titled his neck back and forth.

"Not bad. _**Boost**__._" He moved faster now as he instantly appeared in front of me and I caught his punch. I ignored his gasp and I flung him over my shoulder, slamming him down on the ground. He quickly got up and sent a roundhouse kick at my head but I just tilted my head back. I punched him on the side then 2 more times on the chest before ducking his swipe. I uppercuted him into the air and jumped up, kicking him hard in the head. A shockwave rang out as he was sent flying across the river; he hit the other side with a large bang. I moved to follow up but a large magic circle appeared over me. Jumping back, I narrowly dodged a lightning bolt and another magic circle appeared in front of me. I crossed my arms to block Gael's punch as he came out of the magic circle. I kicked him in the stomach and he…shattered to pieces.

"Huh?" I was confused as Gael floated in the air above me, one half of his helmet cracked and blood trickled down the armor. Even without seeing his face I could tell he was looking at me in excitement (I'm really hoping it's the type of excitement I'm thinking about or this is going to get weird real fast).

"_**Boost.**_" Two more magic circles appeared next to Gael and clones came out. They rushed at me and I took out my sword, cleaving them in half. "_**Boost.**_" Then 4 magic circles appeared. "_**Boost.**_"Then 8. "_**Boost!**_" Then 16. "_**Boost!**_" You get the idea. Dozens of Gael clones came out and a large magic circle hovered in the air, slowly getting bigger and bigger. Lightning periodically shot out and crashed against the ground. I think I gave the right response.

"…Son of a mother." The Gael's swarmed me and I made dozens of Chi Spears, piercing many of the clones. I cut off the heads of two clones and kicked another one into a wall. Jumping up, I dodged a tackle and stepped down on one's head, crushing it. I ducked a punch and grabbed a clone by the leg, hitting another with that clone. Another Gael rushed me and I punched him in the face…only for him to take it and kick me in the stomach. He was the real Gael. His kick pierced my Touki and I spit out some blood. I gritted my teeth and cut down on his armored leg, leaving a deep cut. He moved back and I tried to cut him again, only for one of his clones to get in the way.

"_**Fulmen.**_" Gael chanted and a lightning bolt shot out from the magic circle in the sky, striking me dead in the chest. I was sent flying back into the arms of another clone and it tried to grapple me. I ripped its arms off and Gael shot more lightning bolts at me, I Chi Burst around to dodge them. Activating Sword Fury, I jumped high up and slashed the large magic circle in half. Gael used this moment to fly up and tackle me, ramming me into a building.

"Arghhh!" Gael punched the fried spot on my chest and I kicked him back. He created more clones and I ran forward. I cut the clones to pieces and pierced towards the real Gael…only for my sword to be stopped by a force field. "Of course." I hit the shield with a Seismic Fist and it shattered to pieces. Gael sent multiple punches towards me and I dodged them all, slicing his arms.

"_**Boost!**_" Gael's punches became even faster and more started landing on me. After a hard punch that nearly broke my nose, I grabbed his arm and plunged my sword into it. Ignoring his yell of pain, I cut one of his wings in half and kicked him outside the building we were fighting. He left a long dirt trail and quickly got up. He was met with a Seismic Fist right to his jaw. My attack shattered his teeth and he was sent reeling back, smashing through the outer wall. I took a breath as my Chi was having trouble healing the lightning wound on my chest. I scanned it with my spiritual Energy but besides regular lightning Mana seared on my wound there was nothing else.

'I swear to God if that was some cursed lightning or something, I'm going to-' I didn't get to finish as Gael stood up from the rubble and glared at me. His lower jaw was unhinged and I winced when he nonchalantly put it back in place. 'Now that's hardcore.' He was pissed. How do I know this? Because before he was fighting just to fight, there wasn't much killing intent sent my way. But now?

"_**Explosion!**_" Gael yelled through bloody lips and glared bloody murder at me. His aura flared to life and all the stored power came out. "_**Mors Concubitu!**_" A black magic circle appeared behind Gael and a large cloaked specter came out. It was easily 10 meters tall and I could feel a deathly aura from it. It slowly lifted its hand in my direction and its large arm stretched out to grab me. I quickly dodged as its palm slammed down where I was and something happened that made my skin crawl. The grass where it touches quickly wilted and turned to ash, the Chi itself seemingly sucked out.

'Shit!' I cut a Gael clone in half but another came behind me and it held onto me. By the time I shook it off the specter's fist reached me. "Arghhhh!" I was sent flying back and smashed right into a tower. Gritting my teeth I stood up and looked at my right arm. The Touki around it was blackened and it was slowly eroding away. I quickly separated that part of my Touki and barely stopped my arm from being sapped of life. Gael's clones surrounded me and tried to attack but they didn't get far as a green light shone. They were frozen in green ice and shattered shortly after; Jade was now standing at my feet. "Thanks girl." I smiled and petted the small rabbit, getting a happy purr. I rolled my shoulders and looked down at the army of Gaels and the giant death specter. All things considered, I was out of my depth and probably should have backed out when the future protagonist's broken power was taken out. But…

'Mama Pierce ain't raise no bitch.' "_**Gryttr Ham! Auka Atrið!**_" I chanted and two magic spells appeared under me. My Touki changed to bright silver and Jade jumped on my shoulder, she stuck a ready pose. I learned another Norse strengthening spell this morning that increased my speed. "Ready?" Jade nodded at my question and I smiled widely, looking down at Gael. "Then let's go kick some emperor ass." Then I jumped off the tower and slammed into the clone army.

* * *

**Side Garden**

"_**Hastam Ignis!**_" Maven sent 3 large fire spears at Simon who met them with 3 ice spears. She stepped to the side as his ice ram charged at her. Melting it to water with a fireball, Maven summoned dozens of rock golems to surround Simon but he just flew up.

"_**Venenum Caligo.**_" Simon waved his hands and purple smoke shot at Maven's golems, melting them down. Maven pointed her staff at the male mage and a bright beam pierced through his shoulder but he didn't react. Maven watched as Simon crumbled to dirt and she floated up when the ground under her became lava. Maven quickly waved her hand and sent wind blades everywhere, destroying the surrounding buildings. "Arghhh!" She heard a grunt of pain and saw Simon floating to the side, his arm was bleeding heavily.

"_**Askr Baugr!**_" Not wasting time, Maven casted another spell and ash poured out the magic circle. It coiled around Simon but he put up a barrier before it could immobilize him. "Tch!" Maven clicked her tongue and blocked Simon's lightning attack with her own barrier. Then she tried hitting him with a fire snake but he met that with an ice hound. This quickly became a theme. Both mages kept throwing spells at each other and tried to land a solid shot. When it comes to fights between magicians it's usually the one that lands a direct hit that wins. It's mainly because magicians don't have the supernatural durability many other beings have (granted they are much more durable than regular humans but when it comes to humans like Pierce or Vargas they fall short). Normally Maven wouldn't have a problem with drawn out battles like this, she had the stamina and patience to outmatch Simon. But now?

"Getting impatient?" Simon smirked as he put multiple protection spells up, blocking a huge fire sword Maven sent at him. "Or are you worried about that barbarian?" One spell shattered after an extra strong fire spell. Simon likes to gloat whenever he has the advantage over his opponent or when he has an ace in the hole. Three minutes into the fight and he had already told Maven about Gael.

"_**Flammis Acribus Maelstrom!**_" Maven angrily chanted and a massive explosion sent Simon flying far away. Sadly that couldn't break through his defenses and he quickly flew back, sending dozens of large ice glaciers at Maven. She was quickly put on the defense. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Maven sweated as she blocked Simon's assault and tried to think. It wasn't her opponent that was making her so panicky but Pierce's opponent. 'The Boosted Gear!? Are you fucking kidding me!? Where did this idiot find someone like that!?' At this point Maven no longer cared about the bet and wanted to go help Pierce, it was a freaking Longinus for Christ's sake!? Pun not intended! Maven tried to build a rock wall between her and Simon to stop him but he burned through it. The explosions in the Tower square were not helping her worries either. Along with someone else's.

* * *

**Left Gate**

Melissa and the blue haired woman clashed blades, separating after a small exchange. Melissa sent her Shadow Hounds after the woman but she cut them to pieces. The cut pieces quickly became smaller hounds that pounced but they were also cut to pieces. Melissa rushed at the woman with her daggers but they were blocked. Melissa clashed blades with the woman before jumping back.

"_**Tylwyth Teg Bwled.**_" The woman chanted and condensed bullets of light shot towards Melissa. The Shadow Yokai quickly dodged the bullets and tried to send her own shadow bullets but the woman cut up the projectiles. Melissa ducked a slash and cut the woman on her legs but she didn't react as she slashed down. Melissa rolled to the side and looked up to see the woman use healing magic on her legs, they immediately healed.

'God damn it...' Melissa blocked multiple slashes and had shadow tendrils wrap around the womans' ankles. She was flung to the side and Melissa ran back to the center to help Pierce but a rock wall got in her way.

"You have your own problems to worry about." The woman's voice rang out and Melissa was cut on her shoulder. She hissed in pain and kicked the woman away, jumping into the nearest shadow. "_**Teyrnas Wych.**_" A holy wave of light destroyed the shadow Melissa jumped in but she already hopped to another. The woman looked around for the Shadow Yokai but she couldn't find her. Melissa's hand shot out of the woman's shadow and grabbed her ankle, pulling the woman down. The woman was dragged into the Shadow Realm and Melissa saluted her before leaving her there. Melissa hopped between shadows, quickly making her way back to Pierce but something grabbed her.

'What now!?' Melissa was desperate to go help Pierce. Unlike Maven who had Simon tell her about Gael, she felt the large Dragon aura that seemed to increase every second and that was all she needed. She looked back to see the woman behind her, a holy barrier keeping the shadows in the realm at bay. Melissa was dragged back into the Arena and gritted her teeth as she held back the woman's sword.

"I pity your friend, he must have pissed Gael off for him to use that spell." The woman said as she pushed harder.

"He's my boyfriend!" Melissa said it like it was important to the matter.

"Really?" Though that seemed to surprise the woman. She looked Melissa up and down before shaking her head. "Now that's just a waste."

"…I don't know what you mean but whatever!" Melissa head butted the woman (instantly regretting it since her forehead felt like steel) and backed off. Melissa called upon her recovered Shadow Hounds and used Kamaitachi. 'I got to focus; I'll take care of her then go help Pierce!' Melissa readied herself then lunged at her opponent.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

I ripped apart another clone and tossed the pieces towards two more. I jumped to the side avoiding the specter's hand and Chi Burst to the real Gael. He shot dozens of lightning bolts at me and I maneuvered through them. I kicked him in the stomach, making him hunch over and punched him multiple times in the face. "_**Boost.**_" Gael caught my fist and tried to squeeze, I took out my sword and slashed his wrist. He hissed in pain and backed away, summoning more clones. "_**Boost!**_" The specter grew in size and 2 more arms came out of its cloak. It reached out to grab me but Jade froze the limbs, allowing me to cut them off. "_**Boost!**_" But it just grew them back and I had to move before I was turned to dust. "_**Boost!**_" It grew 2 more arms, a total of 6 arms and the clones rushed me again**. **"_**Boos-**_"

"Alright already, I get it! You have a broken ability! So shut the fuck up!" Picking up a large rock that was lying around and coating it with Chi, I chucked it right at Gael. It crushed through multiple clones before reaching him and hit his shield. While it didn't hit him, the barrier still dimmed and the magic circle hovering around him shimmered. Gael was breathing heavier now. 'Oh? Getting tired are we?' I smiled and cut another clone in half. I jumped back as the specter slammed down but it was also getting slower too. I knew what I had to do. "Jade!"

"!" The small Familiar cooed in response and sent a wave of green ice towards Gael, freezing his shield solid and trapping him in an ice cocoon. I created over a hundred Chi Swords and sent them everywhere, destroying every clone in the area. Some even pierced through Gael's shield and the giant specter. Heaving, I pulled myself together and rushed at the specter, activating Sword Fury. It tried to stop me but Jade froze its arms and I slashed down. I cut the specter right in half and it exploded into a mist of death, killing all the vegetation in the area.

"Finally…" I breathed heavily as a massive crater was left in front of me and I looked over toward Gael. He broke through his ice cage and looked around at the destroyed battlefield. He wasn't happy. He tried to stand but he stumbled, he probably reached his limit.

"Shut up!" Gael out of nowhere screamed. "I'm not going to lose! Not to him and definitely not with your help!" He looked up to me after that and the green jewel glowed. "_**Explode!**_" Gael's Dragon aura rose again but his life force took a hit as a huge magic circle appeared in the sky, covering the entire area. I narrowed my eyes and Chi Burst back but I was trapped inside a barrier. "_**Purpureus Magni Noctes Insomnes!**_" Gael chanted as massive lightning bolt struck down.

"Jade! Go bac-'' Then the world was covered in light.

* * *

**'…Well that was interesting.'** A voice spoke as Gael knelt on the ground, his armor gone and he was completely spent. _**'**_**I don't know if I should be embarrassed by your performance…or praise that human.'** Gael scoffed.

"That was no human." Gael tried to stand but flopped back on his ass. "A human without a Sacred Gear couldn't have been able kept up with me like that. He must have been a Yokai or something."

**'You'd be surprised…'** The voice vaguely spoke and Gael sneered.

"Well it doesn't matter, he's ashes now. I won." Gael frowned when the voice laughed. "And what the hell is so funny!?"

**'Nothing nothing, it's just…you should tell him that.' **The voice retreated back and Gael looked up in confusion. His tired face was quite the sight.

"H-How!?" A burned fist was his answer

* * *

I watched as Gael flew back, he bled heavily from his now unarmored mouth and struggled to get up. I was a mess, burned all over with electricity still sparking across my body causing me to wince. Thankfully before I commanded Jade to leave she encased me in an ice dome and my Touki took care of the rest. I was very tired and wanted to get some shut eye. But first…

"I'm going to enjoy this next part." I walked up to Gael and he looked up at me in fear and confusion. Mainly confusion.

"How-" I punched him in the face. "Wai-" I kicked in the stomach. "Hold o-" I grabbed his shoulder and lifted him up, smashing him against the wall. "Would you give me a chan-"

"No." I coldly said as I slammed my fist into his chest, hearing multiple cracks. He fell to his knees and cough violently, I lifted my foot and slammed it down. He made a small crater as he dug into the ground and I lifted him up once more. He looked bloody and broken. Now there was mainly fear.

"Wait! Wait! I'm sorry-" Gael tried to plea but I just squeezed harder on his neck.

"Now you're sorry?" I didn't care. I was too pissed off to care. It wasn't the fact that Gael tried to kill me in our battle that got me so mad, every fight I've ever been in has my opponent trying to kill me. It was the fact that he tried to kill me _here_. In a fucking bet between two mages and in the end he probably wouldn't get anything out of it. Even when he summoned that death specter, I still didn't go for the kill but that last spell pushed me over the edge.

I knew nothing about him and he knew nothing about me but because I hurt his pride, he tried to kill me. Now this would be the part where I would let bygones be bygones, reform Gael and become great friends with him right?

"Please…I'm…" Gael could barely speak as he tried to pry my hand open. "I'm sorr-'' He never finished as I plunged my sword through his heart.

"No, no you're not." His aura told me that plain as day. He puked blood as he stared at me with widened eyes. Gael's grip became looser before finally giving out, body going limp. I pulled my sword out and a magic circle appeared under his body, it slowly sunk in. 'It's too late anyway…' I saw a green light float out Gael's hand before he was taken and I had an idea what that meant. I flopped to my ground and laid there, my body completely wrecked. Jade teleported back and hopped next to me, she looked worried. "It's alright girl, I'll heal." I smiled and comforted the rabbit. I laid there with Jade for about 4 minutes before a large explosion rang out and Simon came flying through, half of his body looked charred (join the club). He was quickly taken out of the Arena as well.

"Pierce!" Maven floated down and looked at me in worry. She had her own injuries but she didn't seem to care as she looked me over. "Are you okay!? Jesus! Your arm is practically ash!" She wasn't wrong; most of the skin on my left arm was fried.

"Oh this? Please, you should have seen the other guy." I grimly joked and tried to stay still as my Chi went to work. Maven looked at me in shock.

"W-Wait, you mean?" She couldn't believe it.

"Yep, I won." I chuckled at the mage's face and found it all worth it. "What? You thought I would back down just from that? Please, like I was going to let that asshole get your parent's work." Maven blinked at my words.

"Y-You did that for me?" Maven spoke softly and I deadpanned.

"No, I just fought a guy with a God slayer weapon because I felt like it." I said as a matter of fact and Maven blushed.

"…Thank you Pierce." The mage lowered her head and spoke low. I blinked.

'…I just raised a flag, didn't I?' I looked at Maven and I was about to clear up any misunderstanding but a magic circle appeared under us. Light covered us and we slowly sank into the circle. 'Oh well, she's probably just thankful, I know I would be. Everything will probably be okay…right?'

Years later Pierce will look back on this moment and admit…he has a terrible choice in wording.

* * *

And done. Pierce faced a Dragon Emperor and showed him some good old human pride!...now time for the fallout. I hope you enjoyed it!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	21. Chapter 20

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Crainium9**: And Odin isn't a perverted old man that goes to strip clubs and God isn't dead. DxD mythologies are more of a template to work off then staying true to. Now I won't put in some new great God and say he's from Greek mythology when he's not (beside Zeth) but I had to make it interesting. You are right but I worked with what I got.

**HollowSeven**: While that sounds very interesting it wouldn't really matter to Pierce. He has Chi and Seismic Fist can go past any defense and hit the inner body. Dragon Slaying weapons exist to cut through the hard scales of a Dragon but Pierce can just ignore them (to some extent of course, depending on how strong he is compared to the Dragon). But I'll think on that man, that's a cool idea!

**NOGARD**: It's Chronos in DxD. I thought it was Cronos at first too but I looked it up.

* * *

**Chapter 20: A Butterfly and a Devil's Request**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but thank God for wish fulfillment. I own the OCs. Pierce is me with no filter and zero fucks.

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - _**"**__**Jumon"**_

* * *

**London**

The Great capital of England was as active as ever. Many carts, wagons, and horses trudged on the paved concrete. Men went to work in the fields or to sell their wares and many women took their children on a hot afternoon stroll. In a corner of the beautiful city sat an abandoned store, the inside was much cooler then the outside and two people sat there in silence. One was a tall and beautiful browned haired woman that was reading a book. The other was an average looking man who was leaning back on his chair; he was blankly staring into space. A word has not been said between the two and blissful silence echoed throughout the building.

"Hey Thallo." Let's ruin that shall we?

"Yes?"

"Do you like butterflies?" I asked, earning a raised brow from the woman.

"…I find them pretty." She answered while flipping a page.

"Me too." I titled my head back, thinking about yesterday's events. "Hey Thallo."

"What?" She lowered her book this time.

"Do you know what the Butterfly Effect is?" I asked with a serious face.

"…No, I do not. What is it?"

"It's more of a theory then anything but it goes like this. A butterfly can flap its wings and cause a tornado on the other side of the world." I explained as I hunched forward and Thallo tilted her head.

"I don't believe butterflies can do that."

"Well of course not directly." I shrugged and continued. "But if the conditions are met, a simple flap from a butterfly can kick start a tornado."

"Oh, so you mean as long as a tornado is on the verge of forming the wind from a butterflies' wings can help it form?"

"Exactly!" I nodded and smiled.

"That is an interesting theory; a small variable can affect a far larger outcome." Thallo held her chin in thought before looking at me. "But why are you telling me this?"

"…What do you like to read Thallo?" I randomly asked that question and she quirked a brow. Regardless, she thought for a second before answering.

"I like to read stories on adventure and romance."

"And that book you're reading is one of those genres?" I pointed to the book on her lap and she nodded her head.

"Yes it is. It's about this thief that steals from the rich and gives to the poor. He goes on adventures with his merry band and finds true love." Thallo seemed pretty passionate about her book as she described it with a happy tone (her face was always stoic so I can only guess her mood from her voice).

"…So you're reading Robin Hood?" I made a strange face. "Wait does that mean Robin Hood was real? Or is he just folklore?

"I don't know." Thallo answered honestly. "Possibly, all I know is that I really like his stories."

"Huh…a question for another day I guess." Multiple pantheons exist in DxD, doesn't seem like a stretch that Robin Hood was real. "Anyway, you like Robin Hood and who he becomes right?"

"Yeah."

"So now imagine you were put inside the story. But you end nowhere near Robin Hood and you go through life like you normally would. Do you think you would have an impact on the story where you are?"

"…Depends." Thallo crossed her legs and tilted her head in thought. "How far exactly am I from Robin Hood?"

"Far. So far that it's actually funny and you would take a _long_ time to get to him." I said the conditions and Thallo thought for a second.

"Well, if I'm that far from him, then I would probably have no impact on the story at all and I would live out my natural life." She gave a reasonable answer.

"That's how it should be right?" I sighed and leaned back again.

"But…" I looked at Thallo.

"But?"

"If I were take in what you said earlier, you know about the butterfly effect, then just being there would be a small "flap" that would cause a "tornado" where Robin Hood is, altering the story." Thallo finished and I could feel the pit in my stomach become heavier.

"…Yeah, that's what I figured too." I rubbed my face and looked out into space again.

"Are you writing a book?" Thallo asked randomly. "Is there a character in your book that affects the protagonist in this way?"

"Yeah, I am." I might as well go with that, the real reason is way more complicated.

"What did this character do?" I closed my eyes at Thallo's question and took a second. Then I answered.

"…He may have prevented a perverted teenager from getting a god slaying weapon and now he'll probably live his normal life without ever becoming a harem king."

"…"

"…"

"…Huh?" And I lost her (this time wasn't even on purpose). Wryly smiling, I waved my hand and told her not to worry about it. "Well, if you ever finish that book I would like to read it." Thallo offered and I gave a small smile.

"You got it Thallo. I'm still at the beginning but I'll let you know." The gate woman nodded at this and went back to her book. I sat there in my chair and went into deep thought. After the fight against Gael and the anger and adrenaline wore off, I reviewed my actions and came to a definitive conclusion.

I may have just royally fucked up.

From day one that I found out I was in DxD, I knew things wouldn't be the same. And no, I don't mean in I'm going to purposely go out of my way to change the plot or become high king of super humanity. I mean my entire existence is not supposed be in DxD. Maybe "true" Pierce existed in this time period and went on to have a happy life in the small town. Probably becoming a farmer like Mason or a seamstress like Maddie, not joining a party to kill a God. Hell, for all I know Zeth did exist in DxD before canon and an Emissary took him out (I mean the Greek Gods were around in the modern day so he obviously didn't win). Point is Adrian, Maven, Vargas, Zeth, Melissa, etc. they all probably existed in DxD and they just lived somewhere far from canon (the ones that lived long enough to reach it anyway).

But I, Pierce/Dakin, did not belong in DxD. That I 100 percent believed to be true, a guy that has read the story of DxD doesn't pop into it and become canon. That's not how that works! I'm not going to start contemplating the meaning of my existence or something like that (that would be way too much work) but I've always known this and I've kept it at the back of my head, leaving it for later. Some dark, cynical corner of my mind assumed I would never get that far and do something that would change the larger course of DxD. And I fully agreed with it.

Then I killed an owner of the Boosted Gear.

Now that alone wouldn't have me so turned over. It's what can come from doing that, that has me close to praying to Michael and confessing my sins. Issei will one day get the Boosted Gear, become a Devil, gain a harem, and then lead the Underworld to a bright new age. That is what's supposed to happen.

But I don't know anymore.

The Boosted Gear had many past owners over the years and every single one of them has died, be it by natural or supernatural causes. It has seen the passage of time and it ultimately reached the modern age, being born into the main protagonist of DxD Issei Hyoudou. But there has now been one, small interference. Me. I don't know if Gael was supposed to die that day and I know for a fact he wasn't supposed to killed by me. Was he supposed to die against a Divine Dividing user? Was he supposed to live his natural life then die of old age? Hell, did he become a Devil and still die because of the Civil War? Maybe a lot of stuff went differently but now I'm here and probably messed up the series of events that lead up to Issei gaining the Boosted Gear.

'Of course I could be overreacting.' I idly thought that as I stared into space. 'Maybe Issei will still get the Boosted Gear. Maybe killing Gael won't have that large of an effect on the timeline and everything will end up okay…Oh son of a bitch I fucked up.' I groaned and chastised myself for my very stupid decision. I honestly didn't feel remorse for killing Gael (that whole shtick about how it's different to kill a human than a supernatural creature is just some bullshit some idiot made up to make himself feel better.) but the consequences of doing so are no joke. And the biggest kick to the balls in all of this?

I may now have a White Dragon Emperor coming after my ass. How do I know this? Let's go back a couple of hours to answer that.

* * *

**3 Hours Earlier, Mephisto's Office**

I sat down on a luxury chair while Jade laid on my lap. The office was quite modern in terms of style, fur carpet, a large fireplace, shelf's full of (I'm assuming) magic books, and a very nice wooden desk. Behind the desk sat the legendary Devil himself, Mephisto Pheles. Mephisto was a middle aged man with gelled hair that was a mixture of red and blue. He had heterochromia with one eye red and the other blue (they kind glowed in the light so it was pretty cool to look at). After the fight in the Arena, Maven and I were teleported to some healing room to be treated. We met with Melissa and she told us her opponent gave up when she saw her teammates being defeated. Lea came over to us and handed us back Maven's necklace along with the Mirror of Isis. If you ever asked Maven what happened after she'll say she gave a dignified respond. She cried, a lot. Then gave both Melissa and I bone crushing hugs while thanking us repeatedly. I just wish she didn't do that while I was being healed.

'For a magician without super human strength she can give a mean hug.' I grimaced remembering the strong grip as a medical magician healed my charred body. After I was fully healed Lea reminded me about my appointment and I dragged my tired body to Mephisto's office. That was 30 minutes ago. He's said nothing that entire time; the Devil just stared at me for half an hour and I stared back. '…Without context that sounds awesome.'

"Well Mr. Pierce." Mephisto finally spoke and he had a sophisticated voice. Like a noble. "I must say, I did not expect so many things to happen today." I raised a brow at that.

"What do you mean? What's happened?"

"It's actually funny you say that, you should be the one most knowledgeable about these events." I tilted my head at Mephisto's words and he grabbed a paper on the side. He reached out to give me it and I stared at it. I slowly grabbed the paper and looked at the cover, it said Devil Times.

'…The Underworld has newspaper?' I made a strange face but I wasn't really surprised. While humans haven't created newspapers yet because of technological limitations, an entire race of beings that had imagination magic definitely didn't have this problem. I read the first few lines and I couldn't help the smile that came on my face. It talked about how the Buné Clan, who were previously on the side of the old descendents and were putting in their vote to restart the Great War, now switched ships. They joined the Anti-War side and made an effort to show their dislike towards mindless violence. The most vocal was the young princess of the Devil house, Sophia Buné. 'Heh, I guess we're even now huh?'

"I'm glad you're happy about this." Mephisto spoke up and I narrowed my eyes at the Devil's tone. He did not sound happy.

"Another Devil house doesn't want to go to war just because their old leaders had a hard on for world domination, now that's something to celebrate." I placed the newspaper on the desk and Mephisto snorted.

"Well…they were idiots weren't they?" He sounded less harsh this time and waved his hand, a tea set appeared with 2 full cups. He grabbed one and nodded to the other. "Do you want some?"

"Sure." I grabbed the other cup and held it up to smell it. It smelled good. "But yeah they were. I mean, they wanted war to fulfill some stupid goal like ruling the world. What would they even do with the whol-" I stopped as I tasted the tea and blinked. "…This sucks." I stared down at the cup and Mephisto made a weird face.

"…Really?" He stared down at his own and back at mine. "Here let's switch." We switched cups and I took a sip of his. Yep, it sucked too.

"Who makes this?" I asked and pushed the tea away. Sue me, after being around a tea fanatic like Vargas you gain a higher standard for the drink.

"I make this." Mephisto answered honestly. "I give this out to lots of people I meet; no one's ever said it's bad."

"Yeah well it is." I shrugged and Mephisto narrowed his eyes at me.

"What if you just have bad taste?"

"…Give me a moment." I rubbed my space ring and took out Camellia sinensis leaves. "Can I borrow a kettle?" Yes, I have the leaves in my space ring but not the kettle. I'm weird. Mephisto narrowed his eye again before taking out a kettle.

* * *

**5 Minutes Later**

"…Mine does suck." Mephisto took a sip of my tea and was shocked. "I wonder why no one has said anything."

"…I think you just answered your own question." No one's going to tell the director of the Magic Association his tea sucks. "If you really want to get better at making tea then don't use magic. Magic's good for a lot of things but not tea." Mephisto nodded at my words.

"I'll keep that in mind. But how do you-hang on!" Mephisto abruptly said. "This is not why I wanted to meet you!" I chuckled when he finally realized.

"Sorry about that, I like to get sidetracked a lot." I gave an apologetic smile and got serious. "So why did you want to meet me?" The fight in the Arena was definitely not an hour and a half long. It was 30 minutes top, so Mephisto speed up my appointment to meet me.

"While it's my job to introduce new magicians into the association, I did want to meet the human that caused a shift in the Devil's political scene."

"I'm sorry to tell you this but I think you got the wrong guy. I've never been to the Underworld and I don't know anyo-" I stopped and remembering the paper. "…Oh."

"Yes, oh." Mephisto smiled and leaned forward. "I have many contacts Mr. Pierce and for something like what happened in Hakone, well let's just say I didn't need to go far to get the full story."

"…You just asked them didn't you?" I deadpanned

"…Anyway." Mephisto avoided the question and pointed at the paper. "You're actions have caused quite the disparity in Devil politics. The Buné Clan is a very influence house, they were one of the assault corps in the Great War and they made many military accomplishments. The one's who ran the Clan before were interested in restarting the war and the old descendants hoped they would be a leading force in the government. Their vanguard so to speak."

"But Simon and Sophia came back." I added and he nodded.

"They were the rightful heirs but since their father died years ago and their mother met an…unfortunate end, distant relatives tried take control. It also didn't help that they went after the killer of their mother and were captured by one of Zeth's Generals. At that point, the Buné Clan was all but officially part of the faction that wanted war and the political scene was leaning towards the old descendants."

"…Then Simon and Sophia came back…" I said once more but a thought entered my mind and I felt a pit in my stomach. 'No…No there's no way.'

"Simon Buné had many more followers then Sophia Buné, so when he returned the control of the house quickly went back to its rightful owners." Mephisto stood up and walked to his fireplace, not seeing my pale face. "His sister convinced him to join the Anti-War faction and he agreed, throwing the old descendants for a loop. While they tried to convince him otherwise he didn't budge and they had to find a new vanguard."

"…Who's the new vanguard?" I cautiously asked, really hoping what I was thinking was wrong.

"The Belial Clan." Mephisto said with a pointed look and the pit in my stomach became deeper. "The Belial's are pretty low in terms of status among the Pillars and that's mainly because of their results in the Great War." Mephisto walked back to his desk and sat down. "The old descendants promised to wipe clean their past performance and give them a chance to do better in the new Great War. The Belial's were also promised more land and higher status. They couldn't agree faster." Mephisto shook his head at the Belial's decision and drank his tea.

'…Shit.' That was all that came to mind as I processed what Mephisto said. '…_Shit_.' I was still processing. After cursing about 10 more times, I fell into deep thought and finally accepted what I did.

I changed history.

Sairaorg had a member of the _extinct_ Buné Clan in his peerage. The Buné Clan was going to join the Old Satan Faction and were eventually going to butt heads against the Anti-Satan faction in the Devil Civil War. But Simon and Sophia came back, completely changing the fate of their clan. What did that mean? It meant that Sophia and Simon never made it back to their clan in the original timeline. It meant that the Buné Clan was destroyed in the Civil War and the last remaining member joined Sairaorg's peerage. It meant….

I changed history

'Holy mother of God in Hell…' I was shell shocked as Mephisto kept talking but I didn't hear a thing. The Devil siblings never escaped from Shiruku or were probably killed by Yeqon in the original timeline but because I'm here they were saved. I told Sophia to join the Anti-Satan Faction and now most likely their clan won't be eradicated. And now with the Old Satan Faction losing their strong ally they needed a new one. They chose the Belial's. '…And I caused it.' I rubbed my forehead. I personally never really cared for Diehauser or the Belials, I don't have anything against them but I didn't like them either. The real problem was their honestly bullshit if you think about it clan ability.

Worthless. A power that allows them to nullify any offensive and defensive ability as long as they understand the properties of said ability.

Now, this doesn't seem like a big problem to current Devil society because the political power of the Belial's is pretty low and the Anti-War faction is growing bigger by the day. But I know they'll be going to war against each other soon and the Belial's power is going to be a real pain to deal with. How do I know this? Instead let me ask you this, what do you have when you take a clan, whose sole power is to nullify another's if they understand them, and then pit them against the ones they've fought alongside for a millennium?

'…Whoops.' I sighed and leaned back into my chair. Granted with monsters like Sirzechs and Ajuka the odds of the Anti-Satan Faction winning are still pretty damn high. 'Actually, I think I read somewhere the Belial's did badly in the Civil War too so I could be overreacting.' I idly thought but I still felt bad, the Belials might be wiped out for being a vanguard now. Then again, I would have saved the siblings and told them to join the Anti-Satan Faction regardless of the fact. I don't feel that bad.

"Mr. Pierce?" Mephisto spoke up and brought me back to reality. I looked at him and he gave me an inquiring stare. "Is everything alright?"

"…Yeah, everything's fine." I slowly nodded and chose to stop thinking about it. I couldn't do anything about it now and like hell was I going to regret helping the siblings. "What were we talking about?"

"I was talking about your performance in the Arena today." Mephisto spoke and I nodded my head in pride.

"That was pretty impressive huh?" I held my head high and had a smug smile. What can I say? Beating a guy who had a mid-tier Longinus does wonders for your confidence! Mephisto nodded.

"Yes, it truly was a sight. I myself was surprised when you managed to prevail with such a…limited arsenal." And Mephisto was being honest. It was a rare for a "normal" human to beat another with a regular Sacred Gear. For it to be a Longinus Class? Now that was something Mephisto needed to personally deal with.

"I guess I was born under the right star." I continued being smug and petted Jade arrogantly. Now I know why Aindrea is always so full of himself, this feels great! I mean I beat a guy with Issei's broken power! That's just awes- '…Issei.' My eyes widened and my smile slowly went away, then I started sweating. Mephisto tilted his head at me.

"What's wrong Mr. Pierce?" I didn't react as my mind went into overdrive, quickly figuring the problem I may have just caused. One word came to mind.

"Butterfly…" I said faintly and Mephisto made a confused face.

"…Butterfly?"

"Butterfly."

"…"

"…"

"…I'm sorry but what? What does that mean?" Mephisto finally couldn't take it and asked. I didn't answer as the weight of what I did hit me full force. I changed the fate of the Buné Clan and with it, altered the direction the Belial Clan would go. If I could do that…then I probably just messed up Issei's fate. Honestly, I'm too far back in time for my actions to have that big of an effect but one theory entered my mind.

The Butterfly Effect. A minute localized change in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere. My "minute" choice to kill Gael steered the course of the Boosted Gear's path, and now there exists a chance Issei won't get it. It's a small chance, but a chance that exists regardless. All because of my actions.

'…God damn time travel.' I sighed and rubbed my eyes, looking back at Mephisto. "It's nothing, I'm just randomly talking."

"…Very well." Mephisto nodded understandingly and pulled up another sheet. "This is the form to enter the Magician Association; you'll need to talk with the leaders of the other organizations to join them." I nodded and took the form, writing down my information. Maven told me I could freelance like her or join an organization, it was up to me. There were obvious benefits for joining an organization like protection, missions to gain money, and their own private library of magic. I probably won't join any organization though, freelancing sounds more my style (it would also be a problem when I make my mercenary association). Mephisto took back my form and stamped it, handing me another sheet with a magic circle on top. "Here, this will be your ticket back here." I took the sheet and looked it over before putting it in my space ring.

"Is that all?" I asked and Mephisto nodded.

"Yes, that should be all. Welcome to the Magician's Association Mr. Pierce and I wish you luck." I thanked Mephisto for his words and moved to get up. I walked to the door but stopped when Mephisto called for me. "Mr. Pierce?"

"Yes? What is it?" I looked back at the Devil and he gave me a weird look.

"Nothing, it's just…you're quite calm for a man in your position." Mephisto said and I frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You killed this generation's Red Dragon Emperor Mr. Pierce."

"Yeah I know that." I wryly smiled at how proud I was of that a minute ago. Mephisto had a thoughtful expression as he looked at me.

"And yet, I get the feeling you're not worrying about the right thing." I quirked a brow at Mephisto's cryptic words and he continued. "You know about the Red Dragon Emperor so you must have heard of his rival, the White Emperor yes?"

"…I have." Why was he bringing this up?

"They have been a war against each other for a couple of centuries and many, if not all, of their possessors fight to the death when meeting. Now, that's not to say they've only ever died against each other, plenty have died against other supernatural beings." Mephisto leaned on his desk and stared right at me.

"…Please tell me you're not saying what I think your saying." If so then today has not been my day.

"Unfortunately Mr. Pierce, I am. Whenever one dies to an outside party, the other tracks down the one who did it and fights them. And trust me, they can be real tenacious. "

"That…makes no fucking sense!" I made my feelings on the matter clear. "I mean, are they rivals who want to kill each or close friends, they can't be both! All you supernatural beings make no sense!"

"You're not wrong." Mephisto shrugged at my outburst. His race wasn't known for making rational decisions so he's not going to argue otherwise. "But that won't stop the current Divine Dividing user from coming after you."

"…Son of a bitch." I leaned against the door and Jade rubbed against my cheek, wondering what was wrong. "Oh it's nothing girl. Just another Longinus user is going to try and kill me because of the irrational Dragon in their body."

"…" If Jade could talk, she would definitely say what. Mephisto just lightly chuckled and spoke up.

"Of course, I could help you with that problem."

"…I am not giving you my soul." I narrowed my eyes at the Devil and he scoffed.

"Please, taking souls as currency is actually really impractical. The only reason we used to do that was because the 4 Idiots thought it really showed how evil Devils were." Mephisto opened a drawer in his desk and took out an envelope. "I need you to do a job for me."

"What job?"

"I need you to go to the Belial's home and give the current head this letter." Mephisto placed the envelope on the table. "I can't do it because I stopped being involved in the government long ago and anyone affiliated with me can't go or they'll see it as me putting my hand where it doesn't belong."

"…That sounds very annoying." I deadpanned.

"Welcome to Devil politics." Mephisto smiled and crossed his arms. "You however are human and not under me. You can go into the Underworld and come out without raising suspicion."

"Really? No one will question that?" That didn't sound right.

"You'd be surprised. It will raise a couple of looks but most of the Devils you meet will leave you alone. Especially with current tensions, no one has time to pay attention to an unaffiliated human. If you do this then I'll have my contacts keep an eye on the White Dragon Emperor and inform you when they're moving." I thought on Mephisto's offer and was tempted. I may have won against Gael but who's to say the White Dragon Emperor wasn't stronger and smarter. They might just sneak attack when I go after another General and that would be very bad. He also offered me a spot in his organization Grauzauberer and they were considered the faction with the most freedom. He gives members very few rules to follow and rarely orders them to do anything. But I had to ask one thing.

"Why do you care so much?" I asked curious about Mephisto's request. With his overall attitude in the future, I didn't understand why he wanted me to do this. Mephisto got quiet for a second before speaking.

"Because I owe the original Belial, he helped me out before and I promised to look after his house. Being involved with the descendants of those old bastards is not going to end well for them." Mephisto wryly smiled and I finally understood.

'So that's why he was so upset. The reason the Belial's are in this position is because the Buné Clan jumped ship…which was caused by the siblings coming back…which happened because I saved them…and they switched sides because I told Sophia to do s- okay this is all my fault really.' Sighing, I walked up and grabbed the letter. "I'll try my best to get this letter to the clan head. I may need some time since I don't know when I'm going to face another General." Mephisto waved his hand.

"Don't worry about time; it doesn't have to be done immediately. The War faction is trying to make more allies and they'll busy for a while. If you really can't do it then burn that letter, there's a seal on it so only the head can open it. This letter shows where one of the gates of the Underworld is." He took out another note and gave it to me. I nodded my head and shook Mephisto's hand. "Good luck."

"…Why do I feel nervous when you say good luck?" I joked and Mephisto chuckled.

"It's a crazy world we live in Mr. Pierce. Power and luck are really the only 2 things you can count on."

'Truer words have never been said.' I bowed to Mephisto once more before leaving the room.

* * *

Mephisto watched Pierce leave the room and close the door; the office once again entered a calm silence. The fireplace lit up the room with its warmth as the legendary Devil finished meeting with the interesting human.

"…He's not what I was expecting." A voice rang out room and Mephisto tilted his head in the direction it came from. A man with shoulder length black hair and a magicians robe stood in the corner of the room. The man stared at the door Pierce left and had a pensive look.

"I agree. He's not like many powerful humans I've met." Mephisto off handily said as he took another sip of tea. '…Have I really been making tea that bad and no one said anything?' Mephisto felt a little insulted now.

"He had the arrogance down for a moment but it looked more playful then anything." The man has seen his fair share of fools who were drunk on their power and strutted around like they were greater than they were but not Pierce. 'Actually, the way he spoke seemed like genuine happiness then arrogance.' The man idly thought as he took a seat. "So what do you think?"

"About the tea? I think if someone had told me then I would have neve-"

"Not the tea Mephisto." The man groaned and rubbed his face at his leader's eccentricity. "I mean about the fight. He killed this generation's Red Dragon Emperor, word gets around fast and he'll have attention on him soon." Now Gael wasn't the strongest Boost Gear user but he was strong and he knew how to use it well. If Pierce also had a Longinus Class Sacred Gear then the higher ups in the supernatural world wouldn't really care. It would just be a human with a powerful tool killing another human with a powerful tool. But Pierce didn't have a Longinus; hell the guy didn't even have a regular Sacred Gear or a Holy/Demon Sword. It's possible he was a spirit inheritor but none of the abilities he showed implied that (nor did their information network find anything out). Pierce killed a possessor of a god slaying weapon with only Chi, a Familiar, and a very small arsenal of magic spells. Now _that_ will draw some attention. 'Especially from a certain 12 winged Fallen Angel.'

"It'll be fine Georg." Mephisto waved his hand at the hero descendant and leaned back in his chair. "He's part of an Emissaries' party so he has basic protection from the Greek Gods. Joining the association was also good timing since that adds another layer of protection. Besides, he doesn't seem the type to be under anyone, he won't be easily swayed."

"And if a group chooses to ignore all of that?" Georg asked.

"Then he'll have to deal with it, just like everyone else." Mephisto hummed and made another portion of tea. There was no such thing as guarantees in the world they lived in and many times you had to pull your own ass out of the fire. 'Though I get the feeling he'll be just fine.' Georg leaned back and sighed.

"If you say so, I just hope he gets to reach his full potential." Georg, like his grandfather, was not an easily impressed man but after seeing Pierce's abilities he was more than intrigued. It was incredibly rare for a human to use something other than magical artifacts or abilities granted by Gods and Demons. Georg really wanted to how far Pierce could go but one thing was bothering him. "Why didn't you just send me to the Underworld? I could have easily done it."

"…Yes, because sending the descendant of my main contractor won't be suspicious at all." Mephisto deadpanned and Georg humphed.

"Please, I could get in and out without anyone finding me."

"Let's call that plan B." Mephisto shook his head at Georg's claim and stood up, walking towards the book shelf. "The reason I sent him is because he can cause the least amount of problems if caught but also because he's the reason the Belial's are in this situation. He should clean up his own mess at least." Mephisto made a quick "ah" and took out a book from the shelf. He opened it and wrote Pierce's name down in a column, the letters glowing before disappearing.

"You're putting his name down there already?" Georg asked, seeing how Mephisto took out the Grauzauberer registry and put Pierce's name down. "I thought you were going to let him join after completing the mission."

"Nah that was just an excuse. From what my sources tell me, he learned to use magic in just a couple of days and already has 2 spells in his arsenal. He's more than qualified to join. Besides, he doesn't seem the type to go back on a promise." Mephisto smiled and put the registry back. Georg deadpanned.

"Right….it has nothing to do with the fact he's something you haven't seen before."

"Hahahaha." Mephisto laughed and smirked at the hero descendant. "I am a Devil too you know?" Georg snorted, which only made Mephisto chuckle a bit more, and then he was gone. Mephisto sat back down in his seat and took a moment of rest, staring out into empty space. He thought back to all the events of the last couple of months and a smile slowly appeared on his face. 'It never gets boring does it?' That's the beauty of having a lifespan in the thousands and dozens of supernatural factions around. There's always something to keep you entertained and Mephisto had the feeling things were about to get a lot more interesting.

He had no idea.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

I sat in the store next to Thallo, waiting for Melissa and Maven to return. After the appointment, Maven needed to go back to her old magic school to get her mother's locket. The Mirror of Isis needed Maven's blood and something close to her mother's heart. Melissa went with her and I chose to stay back, my mind trying to work out a solution to my many mistakes.

'Well…I wouldn't call them mistakes.' At the end of the day, I'd much rather have Sophia and Simon alive at the expense of the Belial Clan. I knew the siblings; I didn't know any of the Belial's. Gael's death was justified and only time will tell if Issei ever get's the Boosted Gear. The White Dragon Emperor however…

"We're back!" Melissa walked through the front door with Maven coming up behind. I welcomed them back and Melissa put the mirror on a side table. I got up from my chair and walked over; Maven took out a golden locket along with a knife and placed them next to the mirror. She looked nervous.

"Hey." I patted Maven on the back and smiled. "It'll be alright. Like you said you're parents aren't the type to die easily. They're probably just stuck somewhere and are waiting for their genius daughter to come rescue them." That seemed to have helped as Maven gave a small smile and her shoulders became more relaxed. She grabbed the knife and moved her hand above the mirror. Pricking her finger, the blood flowed down into the mirror and Melissa moved to open the locket. Inside was a picture of an older man with a woman and a little girl. The little girl looked like a miniature Maven and she looked really happy. 'She has her mother's hair.' I idly observed as the mirror started to glow, absorbing Maven's blood and a white light covered the locket. We all watched with rapt attention (Thallo also came to watch) and the Mirror of Isis became foggy before clearing up. Like a video, the mirror showed us a large room with cabinets, an alchemist stand, and a desk full of magic books. Sitting in front of the desk was a woman. She had brown, curly hair with a beautiful face and a voluptuous body. She was lightly humming as she wrote down in some kind of diary.

"Mom…" Maven said lightly. Her voice seemed strained and her hand shook as she grabbed the mirror. She held it up and stared at the image of her mother, tears gathering at her eyes. The image lasted for a couple of minutes before it went away and it returned to being a normal mirror. We stood in silence as Maven placed the mirror back down. Melissa and I looked at each other; we were both worried on how quiet the mage was being. I took a step forward and placed a hand on Maven's shoulders.

"Hey Maven, you alrigh-" I didn't get to finish as the mage quickly hugged me, her arms wrapped around my torso and she nestled her head into my chest. I looked down at her in mirth but any sarcastic joke I had about how "I was flattered but taken" never came out as I heard Maven soft sniffles. I could feel her tears on my shirt and I gave a small smile before hugging her back. Melissa also came and joined the hug. We stood there as Maven faintly cried and Thallo walked to the back of the store, probably to give us some privacy. After a couple of minutes Maven let go and rubbed her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry." Maven said quietly and she was blushing in embarrassment. I shook my head.

"You don't need to feel sorry Maven." She didn't. No matter how nonchalant she acted about her parents, it didn't change the fact that she hasn't seen or heard from them for a decade. At that point most people would have just accepted their loss but Maven never gave up and believed her parents were alive. In a way, that was harder to do since keeping that hope for so many years would make it even more devastating when you find out their really dead. Here's to small miracles. I frowned when Maven looked down at the mirror and her face became conflicted. "What is it?"

"I…" She hesitated before speaking. "I just don't understand. If she's alive then why hasn't she come back for me? Why hasn't she told me she was alive? Why…" Maven stared getting teary for a different reason now and she looked really confused (not the good kind).

"Are you going to stop?" I abruptly asked and Maven looked at me. "Are you going to stop looking for them?"

"W-What!? No!"

"Then let's leave those questions for later." I shrugged and put my hand on Maven's shoulder. "You know you're mothers alive now. Just be happy about that. You can ask her all those questions when we find her." Maven hesitantly nodded before giving me a weird look.

"We?"

"Yes we." I snorted at the questioning tone. "What? You thought that after helping you get the mirror we'd stop there? Yeah sorry but I don't half ass anything, I'm helping you find your mom or my name ain't Pierce."

"Me too!" Melissa spoke up and gave Maven a big smile.

"…" Maven had no words as she looked at us like we just said something incredibly strange (and I'm an expert on weirdness so I would know). She looked down and held the mirror to her chest before giving a faint "thank you". I chuckled at her shy tone and looked at the door leading to the back…where Thallo was poking her head out, observing us with a book in her hand. She was writing something down and nodded at me when I locked eyes with her. I slowly nodded back and she went back out of view. '…I should probably ask her about that…nah.' After Melissa teased Maven a little on how she got anywhere without us, we went to the back and Thallo opened the gate to Olympus.

* * *

Thallo closed the gate and walked back to her seat. Sitting down, she took out the book she was writing in and looked at the cover.

The Tale of Pierce the Human

Smiling, Thallo started writing down the prologue. She was inspired from Pierce's confession on writing a book and hoped to make a story that match the one he was writing. Thallo wanted to ask Pierce on where he came from but that would give away what she was doing.

_In a land far, far away there once lived a boy named Pierce. Young Pierce was the son of a mighty king and heroic warrioress and he lived up to their great names. He had the strength of 10 men with the speed of a cheetah and a kind heart. He was loved by his people and he loved them back. At the ripe age of 18, Pierce set out to find his destiny and met with the Olympians. Pierce accepted their plea to save them from the Monster God Zeth and he set out with his allies to slay the evil God. So started the adventure for justice, love, and everlasting peace…_

Thallo smiled and furiously wrote in her book, her creative thoughts just pouring out on the pages. The gate woman couldn't wait to trade books with Pierce and all that could be heard in the empty store was the scribbling of an inspired writer.

* * *

**Olympus, Hot Springs**

"Now this is the life…" I sighed contently, the hot spring water reaching up to my shoulders. After the grueling fight and wave of headaches, a trip to a relaxing spa in a mythical heaven is just what the doctor ordered. Samantha told the group about this place and it was only now I took the time to come. Oh the wasted time. 'What was that earlier though?' I frowned, remembering the sudden feeling of guilt that overtook me. Did I suddenly grow a conscious and felt bad for what I did to the Belials? Or maybe it was for killing Gael? Regardless, I didn't get the chance to think on it further as Melissa rose from under the water.

"Ah! That's refreshing!" Melissa sighed in contentment and poured more water over herself, allowing the soothing water to cascade down. Naturally she was completely naked and I was transfixed as the water flowed down her stunning figure. I got a front row seat of Melissa rubbing soap all over herself and I shamelessly stared when she bent over to get more soap from the side. I could see everything clear as day. I think I bled a little from my nose.

'…Issei you poor, poor bastard…' A part of me honestly never got the whole "guy being completely enamored with the female form" cliché. I liked woman as much as the next guy and sex is awesome (Bouchujutsu is another realm of amazing) but I've never felt worship towards the female form...I get it now though. All it took was being transported to a fictional universe and dating a drop dead gorgeous supernatural leopard princess. '…I fucking love my life!' I had a wide grin on my face and saw Melissa giving me a small smirk.

"You know, as much as I would like a compliment you're silence is flattering enough." Melissa laughed when I blushed and looked away in embarrassment. She walked up to me and straddled my lap, wrapping her arms around my neck. "And why are you embarrassed? You've already seen everything."

"Doesn't mean I'm used to it…" I said low and Melissa smiled in a teasing way. I may have had a couple of girlfriends in my past life but none of them flaunted their body to me like the Shadow Yokai did. It was also because Melissa was far prettier and sexier then the majority of them (I mean she has a body most porn stars would kill for). '…Actually, that's all anime women everywhere now that I think about it.' Melissa just turned about and sat on my lap, handing me a bottle of hair wash. I grabbed it and poured some on my hand, quickly rubbing my hands through Melissa's hair.

"Ahhhh…" Melissa gave a sigh of contentment as I washed her hair and I tried to ignore her really soft butt on my lap. I handled my girlfriend's silky black hair with care and after making I did a thorough job, I grabbed a bucket that was sitting on the side.

"Close your eyes." I said as I filled the bucket with the spring's water and poured it over Melissa's head. I did it once more and she opened her eyes, giving me a quick thank you. She leaned back on my chest and I hugged her close. We sat there in the warm water and all that could be heard was the water calmly flowing. I rested my face in Melissa's hair and took a sniff. It smelled like lemons. It was a nice smell on her. Moments like this help me forget I was in a crazy world where beings that can bust mountains and islands like there pebbles are in the dozens. '…Okay, now that thought was counterproductive.' I chastised my mind and Melissa looked up at me.

"So what are you going to do?"

"About what? The letter or the White Emperor?" I told them about my situation on the walk back to Olympus. While they partly shocked, they mainly understood since the Heavenly Dragon's rivalry was legendary. Killing Gael was bound to have some major consequences. I pretended to be hurt over their nonchalance and their reactions really surprised me. Maven stopped and stared right at me, promising that if the White Emperor ever tries to attack me they won't live long enough to regret it. That was all she said but the intensity in her gaze sent chills down my spine. When I told the rest they also gave similar responses, even Aindrea (though being the tsundere that he is, he told me to stay out of his way while he deals with the white lizard. His word's not mine). Melissa never said anything.

"Both. Are you going to deliver the letter now or wait?" Melissa asked and I fell into thought. None of the Generals have come out after all this time (granted Shiruku died only a couple of days ago), so I had time to go to the Underworld.

"I might. Better to get it out of the way now then procrastinate." I leaned farther back and Melissa sat up. "As for the White Emperor? I'll just deal with him or her when they come after me." I'm not going to go and start the fight if that's what they want. If they try to kill me first then its fair game but if not then I'll leave them alone. That was probably going to come back and bite me in the ass but I had to keep the moral high ground here. It's the principle! Melissa got oddly quiet at my answer and I tilted my head at her, smiling. "What? You don't think I could take the big bad lizard?" Melissa snorted.

"Please, I'm just afraid if they come and you kill them too then you'll get an ever bigger head." She said dismissively and I chuckled.

"That's true." I know I would get a big head over that kind of accomplishment. I frowned when Melissa zoned out and got quiet again. I held her chin and pushed it up for her to look at me. "Melissa? If anything's bothering you then tel-"

"I wasn't there to help you."

"…What?" I didn't know what she was talking about.

"In the Arena. I wasn't there to help you…" She reached out and touched the center of my chest. Right where I was struck with Gael's lightning attack (and I was right, it was cursed lightning). "You had to face him alone and you shouldn't have." I shook my head at her words.

"That's not your fault. How could you have known?" I definitely didn't know. If I did then I would have suggested fighting together.

"…I couldn't have, you're right…" Then she looked in my eyes again. "But I'm not making that mistake again. The White Emperor came come if they want, but I'm not letting them get to you…I won't let you die Pierce." Melissa said that with incredibly determined eyes and clenched fist.

"…" I had no words as I stared at my girlfriend and her firm resolve. I also couldn't help the silly smile that appeared on my face and Melissa seemed confused by that.

"Why are you smili-!" She didn't to finish as I pulled her close and gave her a deep kiss. While she was surprised at first, Melissa quickly responded and we sat there in the hot spring, making out. A minute or so past before we separated; Melissa's face a cute red and still very confused. "W-What was that for?"

"Nothing just…I really do like you." I said that from the bottom of my heart and Melissa blinked. She blinked again. Then her face got even redder and she shoved her face in neck, her aura practically screaming embarrassment. 'Hold on. You're fine being completely naked in front of me but I say one sappy thing and you get all shy? That makes no sense!' Giving a wry smile to my girlfriend's act, I stroked her head and laid back. We sat there in blissful silence and for a couple of minutes we just enjoyed each other's contact. Then Melissa started squirming to get a better position. Now tell me, what happens when you're incredibly sexy and _naked_ girlfriend starts squirming on your equally naked lap? (Here's a hint, exactly what you think). The Shadow Yokai quickly stopped once she noticed what she caused and looked up at me.

"…Now that's your fault." I put up my hands in defense and she gave an amused look. Melissa tried to get off but I held her by the waist and pulled her close. Her full body pressed against mine and she blushed. We started kissing again and my hands roamed about, feeling her body up. Melissa moans motivated me to travel down and kiss her neck but she put her hand on my shoulder.

"Stop…not…here." She tried to speak over my groping and I leaned back, giving her a moment's breathe. "We shouldn't do this here. Let's go back to your room." I deadpanned.

"…Melissa, I shouldn't go on a quest to kill a God with my limited experience. I shouldn't talk to beings that can wipe me off the face of the map like we're equals. And I shouldn't have made a deal with the Devil. But…" I abruptly stood up, bringing Melissa with me and forcing her to wrap her legs around me to stay up. I give a large smile. "I'm not known for my good life choices." I pressed her against a large rock and resumed kissing her neck. Any resistance Melissa had died very quickly and she started getting into it. After an hour, we left the hot spring and by the look the manger gave us it was safe to say we were no longer welcome there.

Totally worth it.

* * *

**1 Day Later, Top of Olympus**

I walked across the bridge with Adrian and he constantly offered his help but I shot him down.

"It'll be fine man. I'll go to the Underworld, drop the letter, see the sights, and come right back. It shouldn't take me more then 2, 3 days max." I idly said as we reached the teleporter. One person going will draw less attention and I could consider this my very first mission as a mercenary. 'I should start thinking on my mercenary name though. Death Pierce? Pierce Van Hellsing? Oh I know! The Terminator!' I stepped on the platform while thinking my idiotic thoughts, and Adrian sighed.

"If you say so but do you have everything you need? Clothes? Food?"

"Yes mom, I have all that." I shook my head in mirth at Adrian's worry. "Seriously man, it's a simple job." Adrian stared at me in silence before speaking.

"1 week." He gave a stern look and I raised a brow. "If you're not back in a week then I'm taking the team into the Underworld to find you. Whatever problem you're in we'll help you out of it. I promise." We stood in silence after that and I stared at Adrian's honest eyes. Then I sighed before smiling like an idiot.

"…What's with all the sappy stuff lately?" I turned to the terminal and activated it, ignoring Adrian's confused face. I looked back at the Emissary as light started rising from the platform. "Thanks man but don't worry, I'll be alright. I mean it's just a trip to the Underworld…what could go wrong?" I had a crazy look in my eyes and faced the sky. "There! I said it! Now come at me! Do your fucking worse! Hahahahaha-" Then I was gone.

* * *

Adrian stood there in front of the platform, staring at where Pierce was last standing. The silence was deafening.

"…He'll probably be alright." Then the Emissary shrugged and walked away, not believing his own words for a second.

* * *

And done. Pierce finally realized the changes brought by his presence in DxD and now has to deal with the consequences. Let's take a trip to Hell shall we? I hope you enjoyed!


	22. Chapter 21

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**SilvinY**: Thanks man, I'm glad your enjoying it. The lore of DxD was the thing that drew me to it even over the fan service. I never liked how many protagonist have all these crazy powers with stupid drawbacks when there are equally cool powers to be found. I fear for the harem turn too and I hope I do a good job of portraying a realistic harem experience.

**orion399**: I personally like Issei but that's not the reason Pierce is all out of sorts over what he did. Its more the fact that he can really change the outcome of people's fate and that's something he didn't realize until then.

**DahakStaz**: For long range Pierce has Chi Constructs, his crossbow, or he can just move closer to his enemy. DxD isn't like an rpg where the warrior class can't do anything against a long ranger like archer or mage, many strong beings have far higher then average physical capabilities even when they are not the close combat type. Pierce has Touki and Strengthening Magic for defense. It's been said multiple times that Pierce's amount of Chi is so large that many don't believe he's human, in terms of stamina he far above that. True, an armor would be useful but that's in the future.

**Bridd**: The quest to kill Zeth will still be the main story but there will moment's Pierce goes off and does other stuff.

* * *

**Chapter 21: Highway to Hell**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but maybe if I ask nicely, Ichiei will let me borrow it for a day. I own the OCs. I'll lend him my story too.

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Wittenberg**

Near the center of Germany and located in the eastern region of Saxony-Anhalt, there laid a large town. This town was known as Wittenberg officially and locally known as Lutherstadt Wittenberg. Situated on the River Elbe and one of the most powerful towns in the Holy Roman Empire, Wittenberg was a beautiful place. A lush forest on one side, a calm river on the other and many white brick buildings littered the town. It was considered a holy place by many with all the catholic influences centered on it and no one would believe demonic forces inhabited the large town.

'…Except for the entrance to the Underworld in a nearby forest.' I thought this as the carriage I was on went over the bridge to Wittenberg. An old man was at the helm and he lightly hummed as he handled the reigns. This old man was named Phil and he offered to give me a ride when I was making my way to Wittenberg (I had Thallo transport me to Saxony-Anhalt but I had to walk the rest of the way). 'But no seriously, this is the center of the Holy Roman Empire and there just happens to be a gate to Hell nearby? I mean, no one has a problem with that?' I sighed once more at the exasperating logic supernatural beings seemed to have.

"It is quite something no?" Phil spoke up and smiled at me, probably thinking my sigh was one of amazement. I nodded.

"Yes it is I wouldn't mind living here for a couple of years." I wasn't just saying that. While the overall aura of the town was more on the holy side (which isn't always a good thing), there was barely any malice to be felt. Just like how I could sense auras with Chi Vision, I could also sense the feelings emanating from all the inhabitants of Wittenberg. That's the downside of living in dense populations for Chi users; the number of people around equals the number of emotions you can feel (both good and bad) and when you try to take it in, it hurts. A lot. It's like trying to listen to hundreds of voices at once and instead of "hearing" you feel them and more times than not the bad emotions overtake the good. Thankfully, I've learned to tone out the feelings when I'm using Chi Vision or that trip to Constantinople would have been a lot harder. Phil smiled proudly at my words.

"You would be smart to do so! Many people in Wittenberg are kind Catholics and the dukes are maintaining the territory well! I originally wanted to go to Berlin but my wife convinced me to come live here. Women truly are smarter than men I swear! Hahaha!" The old man laughed joyfully and I gave a small smile. Phil continued pitching Wittenberg to me and talked to me about his family and how his son was a high ranking member of the Monastery in town. We eventually reached the entrance and a soldier stopped us to look us over. Seeing nothing wrong, he let us through and we entered Wittenberg. "Welcome to Wittenberg." Phil stopped the carriage and I hopped off.

"Thanks for the ride old man. Here, for the trouble." I took out some money to give to him but he refused.

"Are you kidding? Kid, I should be paying you." Phil waved my hand away and smiled down at me. "If you didn't help me out I would have had to leave my wagon behind. Besides, you would have gotten here easily by yourself. You were really moving along!" Phil called out to me on the road when he saw me running across a field with tremendous speed.

"Yeah, I do a lot of cardio." I made up that excuse and pocketed the money. I asked a bystander when I was teleported to Germany which direction Wittenberg was. Thanking them, I channeled Chi into my legs and hauled ass in that direction, crossing paths with Phil. His wagon was in a ditch and his horse had sprained its leg. I lifted it from the trench and healed his horse with some Chi. Grateful, he offered me a lift and I saw no reason to refuse so I hopped in the carriage and enjoyed the smooth ride. Saying one last thanks, I waved goodbye to Phil and toured the large town. It wasn't as bustling as Constantinople or as high end as London but it was peaceful. Men and women walked along the street, either going to stores or to the many memorial sites. Wittenberg was important to the Church in the fact that Martin Luther practically started the Protestant Reformation here. He wanted to purge the corruption within the Roman Catholic Church and the papal's overreaching authority. While he died before seeing it through, his ambitions were picked up by like minded reformers and it continued till this day.

'Yet this is considered neutral ground by the Three Factions.' I walked along the road to the meeting spot, passing a group of kids playing with a ball and I kicked it back to them when it rolled over to me. There were very few neutral locations within the territories of the Three Factions and Wittenberg was one of them. An important landmark for the Roman Catholic Church with an entrance to the Underworld close by and, supposedly, a high ranking Fallen Angel made this his base for a time (sources say he was the first one here, the other two barged in). After the Great War, Wittenberg became neutral grounds and the influences here tried to stay out of each other's way if they could help it. 'Yes, because being neighbors with people that want to kill you in your sleep is a wonderful decision.' I shook my head at the entire situation and stopped in front of a large house.

It was a tall 3 story building with a triangular shaped roof. It was made of red bricks with a chimney and a couple of tinted windows. This was the original house of Johann Georg Faust. While the legendary magician was real and a great prodigy during his time, the actual myth based on him was a bit incorrect. Georg didn't summon Mephisto, he met him by accident. At the time, Mephisto came from the Underworld through the nearby gate and stumbled upon a young Faust training his magic. After giving him some pointers and finding Georg interesting, Mephisto made a pact with the magician. Georg quickly rose through the ranks of the Magician's Association under the Devil's tutelage and even after he died, Mephisto stayed in the Human world to teach magic. I was supposed to meet one of Mephisto's minions here (or as he likes to call them, "associates") and they were to bring me to the ferryman. You could only enter the gate with the ferryman's permission. There was just one problem.

'…That didn't take long at all.' I sighed, regretting that I tempted fate and entered the building. The house was perfectly fine on the outside and being Georg's original base of operations, it had a bunch of protection spells over. Except, those spells were now ripped apart and Chi Signatures that had faint holy aspects littered the inside. Many of the walls had burnt marks and all the furniture was destroyed. I walked through the living room and saw some blood stains yet no bodies. 'I guess that's a good sign.' I looked around some more but I couldn't find anything that would point me to who did this and why.

'Now this would be the part where I call Mephisto, tell him that his follower isn't here and be on my merry way…Nah.' Mephisto gave me his communication signal (the thing you put into the communication ring to call someone; a phone number basically) so I could call him but I chose not to. I was already here and this was technically my first mercenary mission, this would be a good experience. Of course, if I can't handle whoever has Mephisto's follower then I'll retreat but until then, let's get to work. Whoever attacked definitely covered their tracks so there wasn't any physical evidence to point where they went. Their Chi Signature however…

'I'm really glad Chi was the first power I ever got.' Smiling, I sensed the many Chi Signatures that covered the house and it led somewhere east. I walked out the back door and followed the trail.

I passed through the center of the town and made my way to the outer region, stopping in front of a small church (should have known). While it didn't look abandoned, no one was around and it was Sunday morning so that seemed off. Taking my time, I sat down on a bench across the church and activated Chi Vision. I saw only one aura within the church and they weren't particularly powerful. Then I reached out with my Spiritual Energy to sense any magic and my eyes automatically traveled down. The church had a basement. Why was this important? That would be because it was protected by a ton of protection spells. 'Bingo.' I smiled and stood up, already having a plan in mind. The protection was pretty strong and they had the light attribute too so they were probably Angel Barrier spells. It would take a lot of force to get through and they would definitely notice me doing that, so I did the next best thing. I walked up to the church with firm steps, stood in front of it, and raised my fist high in the air….before knocking on the door.

"…" I stood outside patiently and soon I felt the aura walk towards the door. A woman opened the door and stared at me in surprise, before smiling.

"Hello, can I help you?" The woman, I now saw was a pretty nun, asked.

"Oh I just saw this old church and was interested on how the inside looked. I'm a traveler who visits different religions and sees how they worship their Gods." I made up some excuse but the nun shook her head.

"There is only one God." She stepped aside and motioned for me to enter. "Please, come in." She walked away and I entered, closing the door behind me. I kept myself on high alert as I followed behind the nun. "God is almighty and immanent, he created all, and so there is only him."

"Uh huh." I just agreed with her as I observed the church. It was a simple church with many benches, small statues of the Virgin Mary, crucifies, and an altar with a basin. It was a typical church that wouldn't turn any head. If you ignore the magic protected basement and the Chi trail that lead to a door in the back (which also had protection spells). 'I'm going to assume that's the door to the basement.' I observed the door up and down as the nun stood in front of the altar.

"He created Heaven, Earth and the seas. His son came down to become the incarnation of our salvation and he is the Holy Spirit. To worship others and call them God is…blasphemy." The nun shuddered and held her cross, saying small prayers for forgiveness. I only raised a brow.

'…I've met Gods and Goddesses and I still don't understand worshipers.' I had nothing against the worship of higher powers and if doing so makes people feel better then good for them but I still don't get the whole putting your entire being to worship another. 'Then again, some people need some peace of mind that something out there is protecting them.' The nun finished praying and turned to me.

"While I do not agree with your choice to accept that there is more than one almighty, I will pray for you and your soul." The nun smiled and did a prayer in my name, hoping for my safety and happiness.

"…Damn it, why couldn't you have been mean? Now I'll feel bad…" I sighed at the nun's kindness and she became confused.

"What do you mean-" She didn't get to finish as I Chi Burst behind her, karate chopping down on her neck. The nun fell forward but I caught her before she hit the floor and gently carried her to the side. I laid her down on a bench and made sure I didn't hit her too hard. She was out like a light.

'Why do I feel like the bad guy now?' I made a wry smile and walked towards the back door, looking it over. Every inch of the door had protection spells over it from the handle and hinges to the frame. I covered my hand with Chi and grabbed the handle. My hand started heating up and gritting my teeth, I tried to pull but it didn't budge. I let go before my hand became fully burnt and fell into thought. The barrier covered the entire basement so if I try to destroy the floor then that would be the same as breaking down the door. I'm pretty sure Sword Fury would be enough to break through but the noise will definitely alert the enemy. '…Fuck it." I took out my sword and faced the back door; I started channeling my Chi into the sword. I wasn't some protection magic expert like Samantha or Melissa; I wasn't going to get anywhere by looking at it. I lifted my sword in the air and moved to slash down. Just as I was about to swing, I felt the spells in the door shuffle and I nearly tripped myself, stopping dead in my tracks.

"Hey Angela, where's the-" A black hair priest walked out of the door and stopped, blinking at me. I blinked back. He looked to the side at the passed out Angela and his eyes turned. He reached into his robes but I hit him on the side of the head. I knocked him out and he fell to the ground, leaving the door wide open.

"…Well that's convenient." Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, I picked up the priest and laid him next to Angela. I looked down at the priest's robes and noticed something sticking out. Reaching inside, I pulled out the object and I saw it was a sword handle, without the sword. 'What is this?' I looked it over and found nothing but a button on the size. I sent some of my Spiritual Energy inside and found a small Angel magic circle in the handle. It was emitting a decent amount of light energy and the button activated the spe-

'Oh…' My eyes widened, remembering where I once saw this. It was the weapon of a certain white haired psychotic artificial human. The smile that appeared on my face actually hurt with how big it got. '…Oh Hell yes.'

* * *

**Basement of the Church**

Under the church laid a large stone room. The room contained many crosses, banners and scriptures that were currently being handled by the few priests down there. While the majority were sitting around, either working or talking amongst themselves, there was one corner of the room that contained 2 beings. One was a blonde priest who was holding a blessed cross while the other was a tied up male Devil. Oddly enough, the priest was crying as he placed the cross against the Devil's face, earning a yell of pain.

"Arghhhhh!" The Devil's face became scorched from the holy object and the priest cried even harder, saying words of prayer that made the pain even greater for the unholy being. The priest took back the cross and the Devil huffed in exhaustion, sweating all over.

"I am truly sorry for this but it's what must be done." The priest caressed the burnt face of the Devil, like you would a lover's. He put down the cross on the side table and picked up a stake with engravings. "You are a stain on God's holy creation. It is my role to make sure your filth never reaches humanity." The priest took the stake and plunged it into the Devil's arm, causing him to scream again in pain. "But worry not! Once my job is done your soul will be erased and you will no longer have to live as an abomination of God's grace! Rejoice!" The blonde priest smiled brightly and said this all in a happy tone. Tears of joy rolled down his face as he pressed the stake deeper into the Devil's arm.

"Poor bastard…" A priest that was standing near the entrance said and shook his head. "I get they're enemies of God but can't he just kill them quickly?" A female priest that was sitting nearby raised a brow.

"You better keep those sentiments to yourself. Devils are evil beings that deserve no pity." She said this with a sneer. The male priest shrugged.

"I still prefer to kill them quickly. It's more of a waste of time than anything else."

"Fanatics right?" The male priest snorted at the title.

"I don't know about fanatic but he is- wait. Who-" The priest turned around and was met with my smiling face.

"Morning!" I spoke in a jolly tone and grabbed his head, smashing him through the table. The female priest tried to take out her sword but I punched her in the stomach, knocking her out. The commotion alerted the rest of the room and they quickly reacted, taking out their weapons. Light Swords in hand, the priests faced me and the Fanatic (that's what I'm calling him) walked away from the mutilated Devil. He looked at me with a bored expression and took out a Light Mace.

"Who are you?" The Fanatic asked, looking my cloaked figure up and down. I smiled.

"Who am I?" I took out my new Lightsab- Light Sword and turned it on. "You know who I am."

"I don't know you heathen." His face scrunched up in disdain.

"I am no Heathen."

"…Then who are you?" The Fanatic asked me, becoming cautious of my nonchalance and I lifted my Light Sword to illuminate my face.

"I am…your father."

"…"

"…"

"…What?" He asked, along with many others.

"…Okay, I'll admit that sounded better in my head." Am I losing my touch? I idly thought as the Fanatic's face became cold.

"Enough of this farce! Kill-" He didn't get to finish as I sent a Chi Sword towards him. He smashed the construct to pieces and I moved, Touki already on. I shoulder checked a priest into the wall and sliced at the wrist of another. Catching the Light Sword that the priest dropped, I blocked 2 Light Sword swings.

"They make the noise!" I smiled when the clash of Light Swords actually made the "kkssshhh" sound and pushed the priests back. I sliced at their stomachs and they fell down, long burn marks on their abdomens. Kicking another priest away, I Chi Burst to the side when a beam of light shot past me. I saw multiple priests making yellow magic circles and I zigzagged towards them, dodging the light beams. I sliced at the ankles of 2 priests and pierced through the shoulder of another one. I quickly dealt with the remaining priest and blocked the Light Mace from the Fanatic. I pushed him back and slashed at his arm but he dodged to the right. I jumped over his low swing and kicked him in the face, sending him skidding back. He was on me again and I blocked all of his swings, slashing his torso when I saw an opening. He didn't react however and swung at my face to which I leaned back. I slashed at his legs and he barely jumped back in time to avoid dismemberment. He didn't react to the 2 deep burn marks on his legs.

He placed a hand on his stomach and a green glow appeared. The glow was coming from a silver ring on his hand and the burn marks covering his body immediately went away. I had only one question.

"I thought only females got Twilight Healing or am I wrong?" I remembered there being something about the Church taking women with Twilight Healing and making them Holy Maidens. The Fanatic didn't respond and I parried his attacks. The battle continued like this, me cutting the Fanatic whenever I had an opening and him healing the damage. I also noticed he was getting faster and more reckless as the fight prolonged. I sighed. "You really are crazy you know that? _**Auka Atrið.**_" My magic circle appeared on my chest and my Touki turned silver. With my now increased speed, I quickly cut off the hand that was holding the Light Mace and sliced off one leg. The Fanatic stumbled but he recovered by hopping on one leg and lunged at me. I kicked him to the ground and he landed on his head, knocking him out.

Looking around at the pile of bodies, I deactivated the Light Swords and walked over to the restrained Devil. "Hey, you alive?" I asked tapping his shoulder and the Devil woke up, his eyes hazy. He blinked to regain clarity and looked around at the scene, his eyes widening in shock. "Jack?" I probed and the Devil looked back at me before nodding slowly.

"Mr. Pierce?" Jack questioned back and sighed in relief when I nodded. "Thank Maou." I ripped his metal restraints off and gently laid him down on the ground.

"You want to explain why all this happened? And it better be a good reason since I may have just made an enemy out of the Angels." I asked and crossed my arms, waiting for him to regain his bearings. Granted, I don't really care about the Angel Faction and they were in the way of my mission, I'd rather not be in the wrong here. Jack quickly put my worries to rest though.

"You didn't, these guys are Stray Exorcists." Jack took deep breaths as his Demonic Power tried to expel the holy energy in his wounds. "They attacked the house and brought me here to torture me. I don't know what they're doing but there was a lot more of them before."

"What do you mean? Where did they go?"

"I was with David when they came and they took him somewhere else with one group." He struggled to stand up and I helped him to a chair on the side.

"David? You mean the ferryman?"

"Yes, he was brought back shortly after and another portion of the Strays went with him." Jack winced upon touching his wounds. "I don't know what they're planning but it can't be good."

"No kidding." Stray Exorcists that kidnapped a ferryman to the Underworld can't be anything good. "Do you think they'll come back for the rest?"

"I don't know."

"Then let's find out." I walked over to a passed out priest and picked him up. Carrying him over to a bucket of water on the side, I dipped his head inside and waited. Jack looked at me in shock and I brightly smiled back, as if I wasn't holding a person's head in water. Eventually, the need for air woke the priest up and he struggled. I pulled the priest out and he breathed in large gulps of air.

"Are you craz-"

"Yes I am." I coldly said and turned on my Light Sword, holding close to his throat. He shut up real fast. "Now, you're going to tell what you guys are doing with the ferryman." The priest scuffed at my command.

"You won't get anything out of me. Devil lover." The priest said in disdain.

"…Really? I'm holding a high energy blade of light to your throat and the best you got is Devil lover?" I was honestly more disappointed than angry and even the priest seemed to have found that stupid by what his aura was saying. I shrugged and let the priest go, surprising him by my choice of action. "I want to beat the truth out of you but that's not my style."

"…So what are yo-" I punched him in the face. He held his jaw in pain and looked at me in shock. "I thought you sai-" I punched him again. "Wai-" I kicked him in the stomach. "Arrggh-" I uppercutted him and sent him flying back through the air, landing with a hard thud. Jack watched this all in confusion.

"Didn't you say you weren't going to beat him up?" While Jack felt no pity for the priest, he was confused by my words and actions. I shrugged.

"I don't want to but you got to do what you got to do." I walked over to the unconscious priest and picked him up, shaking him awake. He woke up and looked at me in righteous anger. I punched him again.

This went on for a while and I had to give the priest credit, he didn't spill anything. I stood over the pummeled body of the priest and he smiled victoriously at me through bloodied teeth. Sighing, I crouched down and asked the priest for information. He told me to fuck off and not to bother with the others, they won't say anything either.

"I believe you." I said with a bored look and that threw the priest for a loop. I placed a hand on his shoulder and gave the priest my Chi, healing all his injuries. I made sure not to break any bones or internal organs with any of my hits so the priest quickly recovered. He stared in shock at his healed body and looked up at me in confusion.

"Why did you-" He didn't get to finish as I decked him. He spit out blood and I kicked him in the stomach, sending him skidding back. Waiting for the pain to pass, the priest looked at me in anger and a bit of fear now.

"While I believe you won't talk, this is all I got. So I'll beat you then heal you and then beat you again. Until you prove me wrong and answer my question, then you better clench your teeth. I find that helps." I nonchalantly said this as I cracked my knuckles. The priest looked at me like I was crazy.

"Y-You're lying. T-There's no way you can keep healing me-" He didn't get to finish as I fully flared my Chi. The concrete under my feet slightly cracked and the air actually became heavier, the priest's eyes were now full of fear. Even Jack now looked at me in caution.

'Huh… it's been awhile since I've fully flared my Chi. It got stronger.' Even I was surprised by how strong my flare was. It's only been a couple of months since I've been in the supernatural world but I've really gotten stronger. Of course, this wouldn't do much against someone that's as strong as me or has higher reserves of power. Against beings weaker than me though? The priest looked ready to piss himself. I brightly smiled down at him (though to him it must have looked like a Devil's smile). "So which is it? Are you going to tell me like a good boy or do my fists need to do the talking?"

"I-" His aura already told me the answer.

* * *

**3 Hours Later, Wittenberg**

The sun was high in the air and many people were out for a walk but no one questioned the 3 odd figures marching down the street. 2 were wearing priest garbs and a person with a cloak was between them. They were walking quite close to the cloaked figure and if you looked closely, whenever the figure stopped, one of the priests would be there to keep them going. Eventually, the trio reached the outer region of the city and stopped in front of a church. They opened the door and one of the priests spoke.

"Angela?" The name rang out and after a second, the nun walked out of a side room.

"Welcome back. I hope your trip was a safe one." Angela smiled and bowed to the 2 priests.

"It was fine." One of the priests waved his hand. "Has there been any problems?"

"Problems? Why would there be problems?" Angela asked in confusion and the priest shook his head.

"Never mind then, go back to whatever you were doing." The priest didn't wait for the nun's response as he walked to the back door with the other 2. He placed a hand on the door and the spells inside moved to unlock it. They walked down the stairs and the second priest looked back, sighing.

"What a shame. I was hoping to take a crack at her before leaving." The second priest sighed at the missed chance.

"Stay focused. We're on a mission; you'll need to wait to get back to your…bad habits." The first priest said with slight disgust in his voice. The second priest scuffed in response.

"Please, like you're any better. After this is over, I'm coming back here and spending some quality time with-"

"Stop." The first priest stopped and held up a hand. He furrowed his brows and looked at the entrance of the basement. It was oddly quiet and he could faintly smell burning flesh. "Mark, take him-" He looked back but his fellow priest was no longer there, along with the Devil they were transporting. Eyes widening, he took out a Light Sword and looked around. He slowly turned in a circle before taking a step up the stairs. That was as far as he got.

"Arghhh!" The priest was hit on the side and was sent flying into the wall. Gritting his teeth, he waved his hand and a magic circle appeared in front of him. "_**Lux Coniectum.**_" Dozens of light orbs came out, striking every corner of the room and leaving scorch marks. That didn't help though as he was hit from the back, making him land on his face. Quickly getting up, the priest turned around and tried to find his attacker.

"Where are you!?" The priest screamed as he nearly went mad.

"Here." A soft voice spoke from behind him and the priest turned around, swinging at the figure. His light sword connected with the figure's head and the head fell to the ground but the body stayed standing. The priest stared in shock as the head on the floor smiled back at him.

"What the fuc-" Then his vision went black.

'…I never understood that. Why would your attacker tell you where they are just because you ask?' I shook my head as the priest laid prone on the floor and the illusion spell wore off. I looked over to the side and saw Jack kneeling down to the cloaked David. "You had illusion magic like that and you were still caught?" The Devil blushed.

"T-They ambushed me with a containment barrier." Jack defended as he helped David to his feet.

"Sure." I shrugged and dragged the 2 priests inside the room (I knocked out the second priest at the beginning). After tying them up and placing them with the other priests, I walked over to the 2 Devils. David spoke first.

"Thank you for this, if you had come later then there would be no hope." David said in a wry smile and I frowned.

"What do you mean? What are they doing?"

"I don't know what they're planning but they made me take them across the gate to the Underworld. I already took 3 groups of Exorcists and if I were to take this group then they would have killed me." David nodded towards the tied up exorcists. "Please, we need to go and warn the Belial's of the intruders."

"…Fine." I sighed and David thanked me for my help. I was already on the way to the Belial's and I'll tell them about the Exorcists after giving them the letter. I looked at the priest in the corner. "What about them?"

"I'll deal with them." Jack's expression became cold and I stared at him before nodding.

"Alright, I'll wait upstairs." I turned and walked upstairs with David, ignoring the looks of fear the Exorcists sent my way. 'Karma's a bitch.' They kidnapped, tortured, and planned to kill 2 Devils; they should have seen something like this coming. I made it back to the church and saw Angela sweeping the floor. She saw me and smiled.

"Oh Mr. Pierce, I hope your inspection went well."

"Yes, everything's in order. I just need to wait for my partner to finish up and we'll be on our way." I said and Angela nodded at this before resuming her chores. After waiting a couple of minutes, Jack came from the basement and nodded. I ignored the smell of blood coming from him and stood to leave. I quickly stopped Jack when I saw him walking towards Angela and narrowed my eyes. "What are you doing? She's not a part of this." I had Jack put the nun under an illusion spell earlier and had her answer some questions. She was just a regular nun that ran this church and the Strays took residence here.

"I know but-"

"Let's go." I said with finality in my voice and dragged Jack along, David coming up behind. The Stray Exorcists brought their deaths on themselves but Angela was just a regular woman, she didn't deserve punishment.

"Thank you for coming and I hope you have a blessed day." Angela smiled at us as we left and I nodded back.

"You too." We walked out of the church and I looked at Jack once we were far away. "Will she be okay? There won't be some side effects from your spell right?"

"…No, the nun will be fine." Jack said reluctantly and I let the subject go. I get the whole hatred towards the Church in general but still, she was nice.

"Follow me." David said and we followed him through Wittenberg, reaching the outer gate. We traveled outside the town and made it to the nearby forest. David brought us to an old beaten road and even though it was midday, it was oddly foggy.

"Creepy mist that you can't see through? Check." I said and nodded sagely, Jack giving me a strange look.

"Who are you talking to?"

"No one, it's just when I see a cliché, I have to point it out. Now all we need is a gate made of brimstone and flames with a red guy holding a pitchfork asking for our souls as tolls."

"…What?"

'Still got it.' I chuckled at the Devil's confused face and David stepped forward, placing two fingers on his lips. Whistling, I could hear trotting and 4 horses attached to a wagon came up to us. Petting the horses, David got on and we followed suit. Jack sat next to David and I sat inside the wagon (it was larger on the inside then it looked). David held the reigns and led the horses towards a random direction in the mist. A couple minutes passed as I looked outside the wagon and eventually the mist disappeared, allowing me to see a large open prairie. Animals ran across the fields and magic flying creatures soared through the air. The air was quite refreshing and I could see mountains in the distance that had massive trees covering them. It was honestly a beautiful sight and I saw nothing wrong with this picture…of course, if you ignore the completely purple sky.

"Welcome to the Underworld, Mr. Pierce." Jack chuckled at my awed face and I looked down. The wagon was riding on a road that had a line going down the middle and it was elevated. I could see that the wagon was staying on one side of the line just like a-

"…Wait." I made an incredibly amused face and looked at the 2 Devils. "Is this…a highway?"

"Yes it is." David nodded.

"…So are you telling me, the entrance to Hell…is a highway?"

"Well, this is the entrance to the Belial's territory but yes I suppose so." David answered honestly and I just stared at the Devil.

"…I love DxD." Smiling, I leaned back in the carriage and left the confused Devils alone. I laid back and enjoyed the scenery pass by, seeing many species of supernatural beast. The ride was pretty smooth and David said it would take about an hour to get to the Belial's territories. Getting comfortable, I was feeling hungry so I rubbed my space ring and a wrapped lunch box appeared in my hand. Looking down at the lunchbox I remembered this morning and who gave this to me.

It wasn't Melissa.

* * *

**5 Hours Earlier**

'Sword? Check. Underworld money? Check. Food? Check. Black cloak...Don't know why I have that but check.' Not questioning my earlier impulse to pack a black cloak, I stood up and looked around. I had everything I needed and saw Jade sleeping soundly on the bed. Smiling, I chose not to wake the small Familiar and walk towards the door. 'I'll summon her when I need her.' I opened the door and tilted my head to the right, dodging Maven's outstretched fist.

"Ah!" The mage jumped in surprise and immediately blushed in embarrassment. "I-I was trying to knock!"

"I can see that." I smiled and gave Maven a second to collect herself. "What's up teach?"

"Teach?" Maven quirked a brow at the title.

"You know…you're my teacher. So I'm calling you teach…Which is just a teacher but shortened…Really?" I tried to get a reaction out of Maven but she looked at me in confusion. 'Oh come on, it's not even that creative. I mean sport is a thing, how is teach not?' Choosing to ignore my weird jargon, Maven coughed and held out a box to me.

"Here." I stared down at the box and grabbed it, looking it over. Yep. It's a box. It was wrapped in a blue cloth and I untied it, looking inside. It contained rice, chicken, lettuce, and some pieces of steak. It smelled pretty good and the inside had a heating spell that kept the food at the optimal level.

"Did…did you make this?" I noticed the way Maven kept her hands behind her back and she blushed.

"Y-Yeah. I thought you would get hungry on your trip, s-so I made that for you." Maven said in a low voice and tried her best to keep eye contact. She failed miserably. I stared at the blushing mage and hated myself for what I had to do next. Sighing, I wrapped the lunch box once again and gave it back to Maven under her confused look.

"I'm sorry Maven but I can't take this. Thank you, really but I just can't," I said in the nicest way possible and the mage just gave me a blank look. Then she looked down at the outstretched lunch box and mechanically took it. We stood there in awkward silence for a couple seconds before I delicately walked around Maven and spoke. "Thanks again but I got to…you know…yeah." I truly am a man of many eloquent words. I walked a couple steps before Maven spoke.

"C-Can I know why?" I had to hold back a wince at Maven's tone. While her face was still blank, her voice very clearly showed she was hurt (her aura was making me feel even worse).

"I-I just can't. I don't want to lead you on." I sighed and explained. "Besides, I really like Melissa and taking that will upset her." Flirting with other women is kind of scummy on its own but taking a lunch box, fully knowing what it represents, is really pushing it. I hoped that Maven would understand but the face she made only seemed to confuse her even more.

"B-But Melissa helped me make this." Maven said in an incredibly confused voice.

"…"

"…"

"…Hm?" Come again?

"I-I asked her what you liked and she helped me make this. W-Would it really upset her?" Maven looked down at the lunch box in confusion. "Then why did she help me? I-I don't understand."

'…Me neither.' Okay, what the hell. I scratched the back of my head in wonder over my girlfriend's actions. 'I don't get it. Does she not know about Maven's feelings about me? Or am I wrong and have completely missed read all of Maven's signals?' I looked at the mage but with all the evidence, it wasn't hard to see she had feelings for me (if I wasn't so confused, I would be incredibly smug right now). 'So what is it? Why would she help a person with feelings for her boyfriend? I get they're friends but it just doesn't make sense. I mean, it's almost like she's okay with Maven dating m-'

The silence was deafening as I stood there like an idiot and Maven was still trying to figure out Melissa's intentions. Then the mage jumped at the sound of a loud slap and saw me with my hand over my face.

"…I'm a fucking moron…" I said this as I lowered my hand and a bright red hand print remained (I deserved it). After all this time, after Froid, Shiruku, the magician's Association, and even now on my way to the Underworld, I forgot one very important piece of information.

I'm in an ecchi universe.

An ecchi universe where powerful people have or can have a harem and it's totally normal.

'Okay, how the heck did I forget that?' I was honestly tempted to go to a shrink or something at this point. 'I remember the most miscellaneous crap but the obvious things just go over my head. What's up with that!?' While I was busy questioning my entire thought process, Maven sighed and bowed.

"I'm sorry about this. I didn't know. I'll just eat-" Before Maven could finish, I quickly snatched the lunch box and put it in my space ring. She stared at me in shock and I looked back at her.

"Okay, so I may have an idea on what Melissa is trying to do but I'll ask her after I come back from my trip just to be safe."

"…Okay." Maven just nodded along.

"And since she helped you make this then it's no problem for me to take it."

"R-Really?" Maven perked up at that and I smiled.

"Yes, thank you for this Maven. It was really thoughtful of you." I chuckled at the mage's happy face and turned to leave but stopped. I looked at Maven's hands and reached out to grab them. She was surprised by this and tried to pull them back but it was a lackluster attempt at best. I saw that she had multiple small cuts on that were poorly bandaged. "Why didn't you go to Samantha to heal these?"

"I-I woke up early to make the food and wanted to get it to you when I finished." Maven explained like she did something wrong and I shook my head. I channeled my Chi and sent some to her hands, healing all the cuts she had. She looked at her hands in wonder. "That…felt different."

"Now you know how I feel every day." I said with a smirk. Let it be known, you never get used to the fact you have superpowers. Even after all this time, the feeling of power that coursed through my skin sometimes surprised me. "I'll see you later Maven. I promise to give you an actual answer when I come back okay?"

"Good luck." Maven smiled at me and I nodded back, walking away to the teleporter.

I selectively ignored the small skipping of happiness Maven did as she walked away.

I really am an idiot.

* * *

**Back to the Present**

'Wow…I really do suck at cooking.' I ate the food inside with gusto as I was far hungrier than I thought. Even though she said it was her first time cooking, Maven sure did a swell job. Giving 2 rice balls to the Devils (I'm assuming Melissa made these), I ate the rest of the food and I could see our destination. A very large town laid next to a mountain range and it was circular in land layout. The reason I called it a "town" was because most of the buildings weren't particularly big and many green fields littered the interior. While the center had a pretty impressive castle that no human country could build with current technology, it wasn't flamboyant. We rolled up to a large bridge with a gate and a guardsman stopped us. He asked what our business was and David took out a piece of paper. It had a stamp on it and Jack explained how it was his ferryman permit.

"Please, I have grave news to tell Lord Belial." David pleaded with the guardsman and he stared at us for a second before nodding. While his gaze stopped at me for a second, he eventually ordered the gate to be opened and David rode inside.

'Why do they even have a bridge?' The carriage rode across as I thought this. 'I mean a regular Devil could easily fly ove-'

Then I felt why.

I shuddered as I passed through a restriction barrier and it was very strong. The first thing I did with my Spiritual Energy when I made it back to my room that day was reach out with it. I was in the literal domain of the Gods and Goddesses, I wanted to see the protection magic spells that were set up (I also wanted to check out that Locked Space spell Maven talked about all those months ago). The entire top of Olympus was covered with magic spells from every branch for every kind of effect you can imagine. Defense, offense, healing (I've never been injured on Olympus so those never activated), teleportation, sensors, and I even saw some space controls. Now the Belial's barrier is not even close to Olympus', it sure as hell was something I would have difficulty getting through.

"Sorry should have warned you about that." Jack said in apology. "Many magicians that go to a clan's territory react like that once sensing the barrier." I looked at him in shock.

"How the hell did those Exorcists get through this barrier undetected?!" The barrier scanned me from head to toe and even the carriage didn't stop it.

"We don't know if they did." David chose this moment to speak up. "They had me drop off groups right before we got to the Belial's territory and then they would send me back for more."

"So they're not here?" David shook his head at my question.

"I don't know but it's the nearest territory. I have to inform Lord Belial anyway because they came from their gate. I must also face punishment." David sighed and Jack gave a comforting pat on the shoulder. We passed the many houses inside the territory and made a beeline straight for the castle; Jack chose to jump off before we got close.

"Sorry, this is as far as I go. Good luck." Jack said and I nodded at him, saying I'll see him later. At the end of the day, Jack was under Mephisto and he couldn't get close enough to give Lord Belial the letter without crossing a line. We reached another checkpoint and the guardsmen took a look at David's permit before letting us through.

We reached the front door of the Belial's home and it was even more impressive up close. David parked the carriage and I hopped off, walking with him the steps. A butler opened the door and invited us in. Lord Belial was expecting us.

"...How often is that true?" I deadpanned and the butler did a double take. "Admit it, You say that to everyone don't you?"

"…I'm sorry?" The butler had a very confused face and I shook my head.

"Forget it, let's go." While the butler was still confused, he eventually got over it and brought us through the halls to Lord Belial's office. I observed the hall and noticed the many intricate paintings that hung on the walls, along with the tasteful statues. Many maids walked by and lots of doors were open, showing the luxurious rooms inside. I leaned over to David and whispered. "I thought the Belial's were low in terms of status."

"They are." David nodded.

"So how come they have all this expensive stuff?" I asked as we passed another room that looked like a high end lounge.

"While they are low in terms of status, they are still one of the 72 Pillars. Even though they're one of the poor aristocracies, there's still a big difference between poor nobles and poor commoners." I nodded in understanding.

'Make senses. No matter how low they are, nobles are called nobles for a reason.' Surviving the Great War and having incredibly long life spans along with magic, they're standard of living is far above what the richest human king can have. 'If this is a poor state, then I really want to see the Bael's home.' We reached a large double door and the butler opened them, motioning for us to enter. We entered and saw a tall, handsome white haired man sitting at a desk. He looked up from what he was writing and nodded.

"Welcome. I've been expecting you." My eyes twitched. "I hear you have something important for me." Ignoring the urge to call out his cliché, I handed him Mephisto's letter and he opened it.

"…" No one said anything as the Lord of the House read in silence, his features giving nothing away. He placed the letter down and took a pause before speaking. "They're not going to like this."

"...Uh huh." I had no idea what he was talking about.

"But we have to respect the wishes of our ancestors." Lord Belial said with a sigh.

"Of course." Still don't understand what he's saying.

"Thank you for this, you had no reason to do this but you came anyway." Lord Belial smiled and I waved my hand.

"Don't mention it." I have a battle crazy maniac with an overpowered lizard in their body possibly coming after me. You tell me if that's a good reason.

"My Lord." David chose this moment to walk forward. "I also have news of-"

"I know of the Exorcists." Lord Belial said and stood up. "There has been a string of murders of our officials in the surrounding territories and they are holy in nature."

"I-I'm so sorry my Lord. They came in because of me. I'm ready to take full responsibility." David kneeled to the ground and Lord Belial sighed.

"Stand up." David got up real quick and he continued. "It doesn't matter at this point. The Exorcist came well prepared and no matter how many soldiers I send, they can't seem to be found." Lord Belial leaned on his desk and crossed his arms. "The ones that do find them are killed quickly. I just don't have the subordinates with the proper hunting techniques."

"Oh I see that's truly a shame." I nodded in sympathy at the Head's plight. "…Well good luck with that!" Then I turned around and made for the door seeing my job was done but David spoke up.

"Wait Mr. Pierce!" David grabbed my shoulder. "Aren't you a Chi user?" Lord Belial and the butler looked at me in surprise.

"Are you?" The Lord walked forward. "Do you have any sensing or tracking abilities? Please if so, help us; I need to deal with the backlash from the old descendants after my decision and I would need to call back my soldiers to handle it. I will have no time to deal with the Exorcists." The Head pleaded for my help and the other 2 Devils looked at me in hope.

'Nope, uh uh, not happening, I've got places to be, people to see, and Gods to kill.' Obviously, I didn't say that out loud but I did let them know I was busy. Sighing, Lord Belial understood and thanked me once again for delivering the letter.

"Morgan, look around and try to find anyone that can hunt down these Exorcists." Lord Belial talked to his butler as I reached the door and opened it. "Hopefully, we will find someone to deal with them before the situation escalates." I was one foot out the door and was about to close the door behind me. "The reward can be anything as long as it's not to-" The door stopped an inch from closing.

"Reward?" I peeked back into the room and looked at the Lord. "And by anything, you mean…"

"Anything within reason." Lord Belial clarified and I blankly stared before falling into thought.

'Anything huh…' Honesty, I wasn't in need of money right now. The Greek Gods paid for our expenses (I finally asked Adrian one day where all the money he gave us came from) and nothing came to mind but it seemed like a waste to let this opportunity go. 'But what should I ask for? A Demon Sword? A future favor? The Belial Princess' hand in marriage?' I was stumped as they let me stew in my thoughts and just as I was about to end my train of thoughts I looked out the window.

There wasn't anything that caught my attention in the window. It was just a view of a long green clearing that looked untouched with a peaceful lake next to it and animals running across. I could see why Lord Belial made his office window facing the clearing, it was a beautiful sight. It would be the perfect spot for a hous-

"…" I blinked. I blinked again. Then a single idea wormed its way in my head and the biggest shit eating grin I've ever made appeared on my face. '…Pierce you wonderful, crazy bastard you.' I faced the Head of House Belial and spoke. "I'll deal with those Exorcists."

"R-Really? That's great!" That brought great relief to Lord Belial and he shook my hand. "Thank you! If there's anything you need then-"

"The reward."

"Oh yes, the reward." Lord Belial nodded and smiled. "But of course, the moment the Exorcists are eradicated then you'll be paid." The Belial's may be among the lower aristocracy but they still held their pride and would pay their dues.

"If I could, I already have an idea of what I want." I threw that out and Lord Belial looked surprised.

"Really? What do you want?" I pointed to the clearing out the window.

"I want that plot of land."

"…"

"…"

"…What?"

Lord Belial quickly agreed to give me that piece of land after the extermination of the Exorcists (apparently it didn't hold any significance other being a good view for him). I bowed once more and walked out of the room with Morgan. He kept giving me odd looks as he led me to get what information they had on the Exorcists. Why did I ask for a random piece of land instead of a Demon Sword or status? Because that piece of land will be the place of a very important place in the future. How do I know this?

Because the very first branch of my Supernatural Mercenary Association will be located there. A branch located in the heart of a noble clan and the Underworld.

'…Pierce you devious, glorious son of a mother.' My maniacal laugh echoed through the Belial's halls and more than once did Morgan send me looks that said I was crazy.

Aren't we all?

* * *

And done. Pierce finished his mission and is on his way to do another one. Before anyone says it, no Pierce isn't some mastermind that wants to invade and control the Underworld with that request. He just wants to make a branch for his future organization in actual Hell. I know I would, that just sounds awesome. I hope you enjoyed!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	23. Chapter 22

_**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**_

**006Sam**: For the record, a karate chop to the neck can cause pain, disorientation, and loss of consciousness. More importantly, Pierce has superhuman strength and Angela was a normal woman. He could have easily bitch slapped her and have her out for hours but that's just messed up. I like comments that nitpick at my writing choices but ultimately they have to be things I could work with. Saying something's "cringe" is not constructive. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and future chapters I make.

**Bridd**: Pierce isn't going after Zeth to save Olympus. I mean he is, but it's more for himself than anyone else. He's getting a huge reward for killing the Monster God and he's doing it because it sounds awesome not from the kindness of his heart or loyalty to Olympus. I also think you're severely underestimating how strong Gods are in DxD. The majority of the Top 10 Strongest in the World are Gods, The Biblical Faction (the more dominant faction in the world) originates from a God and even Ophis, an impossibly strong being, is a Dragon _God_. Vidar with his boots is as strong as Thor and Apollon's Sunlight Manipulation can make average Ultimate-Class Devils powerless against him. Now I can understand the confusion in terms of power scaling since Ichiei gave Issei and everyone he knows ridiculous power-ups but make no mistake, Gods are still the dominant race in DxD (aside from Dragons of course). I will tell you this now since it seems pretty obvious but Zeth will regain his full strength again so it's not like the party will steamroll the God when they face him. That would just be boring.

**Rangle**: Um, buddy you just described every main character in any form of fiction ever. Fiction is unrealistic and wish fulfillment at its core, that's why people read it. But I have to disagree with you on something, having Chi and being reincarnated is not some grand thing. How do you think ancient monks discovered Chi? They stumbled upon it very much like Pierce did as a toddler; it's not something incredibly unique (hell the entire species, the Yokais, can use it). Also, most (if not all) the things Pierce has had to deal with, he couldn't solve with his knowledge of DxD. I could have given Pierce the Longinus Sacred Gear Obsidian Heavenly Dragon Emperor or the Pocket Watch of Eternity or some other crazy strong shit but I didn't. I gave him Chi which isn't overpowered but has a lot of potential and it's realistic for someone to get. By the way, I never said Pierce was weaker than his teammates. Have a lesser pedigree? Sure. But if I were to make a scale, then Pierce and Maven would be the "heavy hitters" of the team because of their sheer destructive capabilities. All in all, I think I made Pierce pretty close to the ground and since you went out of your way to make that review, thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy future chapters.

**Human8130**: It's not the main house; it's a future side branch to take in Devils that want to become mercenaries.

**Xenozip**: He won't make it to Canon in this story. This story will mainly be about Pierce and his adventures.

* * *

**Chapter 22: It's Elementary my Dear**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I will stick with it till the end. I own the OCs. Some of Ichiei's plot decisions I don't agree with but it's still good.

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Top of Olympus**

Athena, the Goddess of War and Wisdom has been called many things over the years. Valiant, beautiful, grandiose, holy and more times than she could count (or find redundant), wise. Many stories on Athena are about the warriors that fought in her name and how the tides of mortal wars were mainly decided on her whims. A Goddess associated with battle, Athena was particularly powerful even amongst the other Gods and her mindset made it so that she never allowed herself to become rusty. She was an important Goddess of Olympus and she had a standard sense of dignity that she has never lost, even after all this time.

Meaning the larger than life Goddess did not pout.

"…So why are you pouting?" Aphrodite asked as she sat on the ledge. She, Athena, and Artemis were lounging in an observatory. While many places on the top of Olympus had great views of the world below, the observatory was made by Hephaestus for a different experience. He created a room that showed you a particular place in the Greek heaven like you were there even when it was on the side of the world. Artemis was currently messing with the mechanisms to find something and Athena was crossed legged on the side.

"I'm not." Athena frowned as she looked out into the distance.

"No you're pouting." Aphrodite said matter of fact.

"…I don't pout."

"Uh huh." Aphrodite moved her gaze from Athena, falling into thought before giving a quick "ah!" and turning to Artemis. "Hey Artemis help me out."

"What?" The Goddess of Hunting was still trying to find her target.

"Sorry but I keep forgetting. What's it called when you push your bottom lip forward? You know, when you're upset." Aphrodite innocently asked. Artemis looked at the Goddess of Beauty with an amused smile and Athena gave a bored look.

"…A pout?"

"Yes! That's what it's called, thank you." Aphrodite smiled gratefully and looked around, before landing her gaze back on Athena. "Hey look, you're doing it!" Aphrodite pointed at her with a toothy grin.

"You're not funny." Athena deadpanned.

"And you suck at lying." Aphrodite shrugged. "Now do you want to tell me why you're upset?"

"…He should have told me…" Athena mumbled but the Goddess of Beauty heard it.

"I'm going to go ahead and assume the "he" is Pierce. What should he have told you?"

"…He defeated the current Red Dragon Emperor." Athena sighed and explained what Pierce did in the Arena. The silence was deafening.

"Oh…" That was all Aphrodite had. She stared at Athena in wonder before asking. "And you found out from someone other than him?"

"One of Hermes's brokers told me how he fought in a match against the Red Dragon Emperor to help one of his friends." Athena said in a bitter tone.

"…Is this friend a girl?"

"Yes she is. Why does that matter?" Athena narrowed her eyes at Aphrodite's tone.

"No reason."

"…Okay then." While Athena didn't believe the Goddess of Beauty, she let it go. "The problem is the White Dragon Emperor."

Being a literal Goddess of Wisdom (and a _bit_ of a bookworm), Athena knew the ins and outs of the majority of the factions in the world. The Dragons were the one of the most powerful races around and the Heavenly Dragons in their prime were above the strength of many Gods, her included. She had wanted Hermes's men to be on the lookout for the Divine Dividing user but most of them were on standby to watch the generals when they returned. So Athena thought on the next best thing, she would up Pierce's training and show him some of her own personal magic to stand a better chance when the White Dragon came after him. There was just one problem.

"But he never came and told me!" Athena vented with an angry face. "I'm his teacher! He should have told me himself, not send Adrian to tell me! I mean, shouldn't friends tell each other when they may have to fight a really dangerous opponent!? Another thing-" Athena abruptly stopped and stared at the 2 Goddesses. They were looking at her in mirth and exhaustion.

"You want to tell her?" Artemis said, looking at Aphrodite.

"Why should I tell her?"

"…Isn't it in your job description?"

"…Fair enough." Aphrodite shrugged and faced the now confused Athena. "Now Athena, I know this is a new experience for you and you may be confused but just know that it's perfectly normal. Now…when a girl and boy meet they may find each other…"interesting" and try new and exciting things with each oth-"

"That's not what this is!" Athena yelled with angry blush. "I'm being serious! He's in real danger and then he goes to the Underworld just like that! That's incredibly irresp-"

"Pierce is a grown man Athena." Aphrodite stopped Athena with a pointed look. "He can do whatever he wants and he can take care of himself. He did kill the Red Dragon Emperor; the current White Dragon Emperor probably won't be any harder."

"It's that kind of attitude that will get him killed." Athena said with a scowl.

"So you make sure it doesn't get to his head." The Goddess of Beauty advised as she stood up. "Help him get stronger not only to face the White Emperor but any future threats that come his way."Athena thought heavily on Aphrodite's advice before sighing.

"How is it that I keep getting advice rather than giving it?"

"Humph! I don't know why you're so surprised; I'm more than just a pretty face!" Aphrodite puffed out her chest in pride and Athena shook her head in amusement. Aphrodite walked over to Artemis and looked at her working. "What are you doing anyway?"

"You'll see." Artemis smirked and finally seemed to find what she was looking for as she hit a button. The surrounding room changed and they ended up in a beautiful garden. There were a variety of flowers that did not belong in the sunny climate and a tired Demeter sat in a rose bed as she drank some morning wine (yes, wine can be a morning drink). Aphrodite looked in confusion at Artemis, wondering why they were watching Demeter. Artemis just said the same thing.

After drinking 2 more cups of her favorite wine, Demeter stretched and put her hands behind her head. A strand of hair went on her face and she scowled when she saw it was still purple. 'I'm so getting her back for this.' While thinking this a leaf landed on her face and she grabbed it to take it off, getting a glimpse of her pretty hand. In spite of being a Goddess of Agriculture, Demeter went to great lengths to keep her hands manicured and spotless. And there was nothing about her hand that caught her attention. It was as perfect and purple as eve-

'Purple?' The Goddess took another look and saw, indeed, her hand was purple. Then her gaze traveled down and saw that her whole arm was purple, along with her legs. Quickly waved her hands, a mirror appeared in front of Demeter and she saw that just like her hair, her skin was purple from head to toe. Demeter stood like this for a minute or 2 before she did what any millennium old narcissistic Goddess would do.

She screeched so loud that Great Red probably heard it in the Dimensional Gap.

"Hahahahahaha!" Artemis was laughing her ass off as she had a front row view of the break down. Aphrodite had an amused face and Athena lightly chuckled at the Goddess's over reaction (in her opinion).

"What is it with you and the color purple lately?"

"It's the only thing those Dwarves will sell me and they really overcharged me for that potion but it was totally worth it!" The other 2 Goddesses stopped at Artemis' words.

"…You got that potion from the Dwarves?" Athena stared at Artemis in shock. 'Okay, maybe it isn't an overreaction.'

"She is going to be pissed." Aphrodite gave a look of pity to the purple Goddess.

"Hey! I tried to make peace but she wasn't having any! By the way Athena, do you still have that supernatural laxative Sun gave you?"

"…Maybe." Athena said in monotone and the Goddess of Beauty did a double take.

"You still have that? Hasn't it been a couple of centuries?" Athena's silence was all Aphrodite needed. "…There's a lot more questions I want to ask."

"Oh who cares, let's go get it!" Artemis grabbed Athena and pulled her towards her room, plotting for Demeter's eventual retaliation.

"…" Aphrodite stood there watching the duo leave and looked to Demeter murmuring low on how to get back at a certain Hunting Goddess. She had only one thing to say. "…Maybe Zeth's on to something." Then the Goddess of Beauty shrugged before walking back to her room. Demeter never moved from her murmuring form until much later.

* * *

**Underworld, One of Belial's Territories**

Jack and I stood in front of a large theater in the middle of a more modern looking town. Why a lower official used to reside in a nicer looking place than Lord Belial was beyond me. "Used to" being the key words as the official was killed by the group of Stray Exorcists and from what the records show, it was from out of nowhere. The official was attending a play with his wife before the Exorcists came and quickly killed him. They entered and left completely undetected with no one being able to figure out how. But fear not, for detective Pierce was on the case and he always gets his-

"What are you doing?" Jack asked with an odd look.

"…I'm monologuing." I innocently answered.

"Okay…then what's with the outfit?" He pointed at my attire in question. I was wearing a black suit with a brown overcoat and a cloth hat. While Lord Belial had no problem lending me his tailor, sadly the Devil servant could not compare to the tailor of Olympus. The overcoat only reached my knees and the cloth hat didn't fit properly on my head. Regardless, I made it work and rolled with it.

"I just told you, Detective Pierce is here and the villains who did this heinous scheme shall be brought to justice!" I said with vigor and pose. Jack wasn't impressed. "Oh yeah, that reminds me here!" I rubbed my space ring and a checkered overcoat appeared in my hand.

"…I am not wearing that." Jack deadpanned and I sighed.

"Come on man work with me here, at least wear the top hat." I watched as Jack stared at the hat before sighing and putting it on. Smiling in satisfaction, we walked into the theater and we were guided by the owner of the theater. He brought us to the place where the Exorcists attacked the official and it wasn't what I was expecting.

"…No one thought to clean that up?" I asked as I pointed at a pile of ashes and blood lying in a corner. "That can't be sanitary."

"We left the scene alone so we don't contaminate it and mess up your tracking ability." The theater owner reasoned and I nodded.

"Thank you for that." The Devil left so Jack and I looked around. I activated Chi Vision to find any Chi Signatures but there were a lot of them and all of them belonged to Devils. I didn't bother to check things out with my Spiritual Energy since any magic spell that was used left no trace (at least from what Lord Belial's men said). All things considered, whatever happened here was not a fight from the lack of destruction and the way no one found out about the fight until much later.

"So what do you think?" Jack said as he stood over the pile of ashes. I humped at the question.

"Isn;t it obvious what happened here?"

"…No?" He didn't get it.

"The Exorcists must have a powerful holy relic; either a Holy Sword or a Holy attributed Sacred Gear. They should also have a person with stealth abilities that can not only hide their own life forces, but the life force of others."

"How do you know all that?"

"Why it's elementary my dear Jackson." I smiled as I continued, ignoring his mumbled "my name's just Jack". "The official was blitzed. Even though the records show that he was a High Class Devil, it seemed like he barely put up a fight. So that means the Exorcist must have a weapon that contains a large amount of Holy energy, you know the thing that you Devils are very weak to. Also, the fact that they got so close means they have someone that can not only bypass magical protection but encase the target in an isolated space so the official couldn't get any help."

"Oh…" Jack was honestly impressed and I puffed out my chest in pride.

Of course, I pulled all that out my ass.

While no Chi Signatures here were human, I could feel a large amount of holy aura emitting from the ashes. But it wasn't small; it was actually very large and the only reason I could recognize it as a Holy Sword was because I remember the aura of Liam's Holy Sword Dyrnwyn and The Sword of Damocles. Yet the lack of human signatures showed someone on their side could not only hide whatever magic they used but also their Chi. 'So they either have a Chi user on their side, probably a Yokai, or a magic user known for stealth and infiltration.'

"So what should we do first?" I rubbed my space ring at Jack's question and held three documents, placing them on a side table. Opening them, each document showed a file on a separate official and all of them were killed.

"Do you see a pattern here?" I smirked at Jack and he looked at the documents before nodding.

"Each of these officials ran a town and these towns are the ones closest to each other."

"Exactly. Belial's men also figured this out but like he said they were killed when catching the Exorcists and they escaped." I walked to the door and exited, looking at the theater Devil waiting in the hallway. "Excuse me but what's the closest town from here?"

"That would Belhor."

"Thank you." I walked by and Jack came up behind.

"So you think their heading for Belhor?"

"Most likely." I shrugged. "The first assassination happened yesterday at noon with the second happening in the evening. That's roughly a 5 hour difference, give or take an hour. So either they are taking their sweet time attacking the officials or…"

"…They are walking to each town?" Jack finished for me in wonder.

"That's what I think. Whatever power they have to hide their movements, it seems to end at teleporting. They can't directly teleport to their target's town easily or they would have had a much larger body count." I gave my diagnoses as we reached the outside and got inside the carriage. It made sense too, if it was that easy to teleport to the many cities and towns in the Underworld then the Angels would have done so in the Great War. The Stray Exorcists must be moving on foot and their next target will most likely be whatever official runs Belhor. "Belhor." I spoke to the rider and he immediately started moving.

"The men Lord Belial left at Belhor will not be enough." Jack said with a grim tone. After we left, the Head called back the many men he sent out to find the Exorcist and he could only leave a certain amount in the closer territories. Belhor was one of those territories.

"If things go the way they should, then they won't need to get involved. All we need is the official." I relaxed as the carriage moved. Jack looked at me in wonder.

"What for? He may be a High Class Devil but he's not particularly strong."

"We don't need him for his fighting ability."

"Then why do we need him?" I slyly smiled at Jack's question.

"Do you fish Jack?" I chuckled at the weird expression that appeared on his face. "Well do you?"

"…Once. With my father." Jack conceded and finally said.

"Then you should know that to catch a big fish…you need some appetizing bait." I closed my eyes at that and laid my head back.

"…"

"…"

"…What?" Never gets old.

* * *

**Belhor, Mayor's House**

"So I just…stay here?" The official and major of Belhor, Dagmar, questioned.

"Pretty much. I have reason to believe you will be the Exorcist's next target and so it will be easier if you just stay put." I said this all with a smile like I didn't just tell a man to be bait for a group of fanatical killers.

"…Okay." Dagmar took this all with stride though as he nodded.

"Great! Now lets-"

"Hold on!" Jack chose to be the voice of reason this time and interjected. "You're okay with that?! I mean you have no problem going along with this and being bait!?" Dagmar sighed at the completely sound question.

"These Exorcists have already taken down a couple of my colleagues with no one being able to stop them. I owe it to them to at least try my best." I nodded at Dagmar's words.

"That's real noble…now you want to tell the other reason?" I dropped that offer and got a raised brow from the official. His aura did say he was telling the truth but I could also sense quite a bit of resentment coming from him (I couldn't tell if it was directed at me or not). We stayed staring for a minute before Dagmar sighed and leaned back in his chair.

"My son,…he was one of the victims of the attacks."

"…Oh." Okay, now I feel like a dick. I gave my sympathies and told him that we will try our best to catch the Exorcists. "We already have the remaining soldiers in town positioned around the perimeter. We'll be close by as well." That only got a small nod from the somber Dagmar and I walked out the room with Jack. I ignored how Dagmar took out a bottle of wine and a cup as the door closed.

"…Do you think he hopes they come for him?" Jack wasn't going to though and asked.

"Maybe, can't say for sure." I answered honestly as we walked outside to the stake out spot. "At least he'll be ready." Jack nodded at my words and we eventually reached a small building that was settled on a hill that conveniently showed a clear view of Dagmar's house (it was also within the range of my Chi Vision). Sitting down on the front porch, I got comfortable and Jack took out a chair, setting it next to me.

"No offence but I was surprised by your decision." Jack said as he sat down and I quirked a brow.

"What do you mean?"

"About telling Dagmar that you wanted him to be bait. I figured you were going to lie to get him to stay, telling someone they are going to be bait isn't something that usually goes that well you know that right?." I snorted at that

"Well, if he had refused then I could have just ordered him to stay by using Lord Belial's authority but thankfully that wasn't necessary" I shrugged as I observed the surroundings of the Belial territory. "Besides, that's not how I roll. I have nothing against him and I'm not about to purposely put him in danger when he hasn't done anything."

"Heh…a human with morals? Now I've seen it all." Jack said with a smirk and I gave an amused smile.

"You do realize your race has the word evil in it right?"

"Hm, true." Jack lightly chuckled at that and he leaned back in his chair. I gave him a curious look over.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"Why are you here?" That was something I was wondering for a while. "I mean, Lord Belial got the letter so shouldn't you be on your way back to Mephisto? Not that I want you to leave or anything, I'm just curious."

"…You're right, I should be heading back." Jack made no motion to move though. "But I have unfinished business with those Exorcists, I'm not leaving till I get my dues."

'Revenge huh.' Well, there were worse reasons to track crazy Exorcists and I wasn't about to give him a lecture on why revenge is never the answer. I'm not that pure. "Still it's kind of odd."

"What is?"

"That Lord Belial chose to give us this mission." I wasn't going to ask the Head directly since I wanted that reward but it did weigh on me. "Don't you guys have a department to enforce rules and laws? As much as this seems like the Belial's problem, I would assume the higher ups wouldn't like it for stray Exorcists to be running around."

"You would be right; we do have a force to take care of that kind of stuff." Jack nodded at my question.

"Then where are they?"

"On the Anti-War side." Jack explained the situation and I finally got it. The Agares and Glasya-Labolas are the law enforcers of the Underworld but with the current tensions bordering on civil war, they can't easily do their job. Both clans are part of the Anti War party and if Lord Belial asked for their help they would need to heavily consider it. The Belial Clan is the vanguard of the Pro-War side and even if Lord Belial chose to defect, the clans can't just take his word for it. The Buné Clan was still being monitored by the other clans after defecting and time would be needed for them to be trusted, it would be the same for the Belial's. It may take days or even weeks before they would be brought into the fold.

'That's time they may not have.' I thought with a grim face. The Exorcists came to the Underworld a little under 2 days ago and they already killed three officials unhindered. The amount of damage they can cause in a week would not be pretty.

"I really pity the Belial's though." Jack said with a sigh and I frowned. He saw my frown and continued. "The old descendants are not the understanding type Mr. Pierce. From what sources say, they nearly attacked the Buné Clan for their defection. The only reason they didn't was because of the Buné Clan's influence and personal strength. Maou knows what they'll do to the Belial's once they learn of their defection."

I thought on what Jack said and another wave of guilt hit me once more. The Belial's are this position because of my existence and with their low status; the odds of the old descendants attacking them are pretty high. But that does raise the question, who is Lord Belial going to answer to? Will it be one of the old descendants or one of their subordinates? '…Oh it'll probably be alright, the Civil War hasn't started yet so any straight up fighting should be avoided.' With that last thought I leaned back and waited for the Exorcists.

* * *

**Lord Belial's Castle**

The castle was currently in a frenzy. Maids walked around with hurry and soldiers did minute rounds around the castle, on guard for any disturbances. After Lord Belial's announcement that they would defect from the Pro-War faction, many tried to keep a calm head and prepare. The fickleness and arrogance of the old descendants was widely known across the Underworld (they wanted to reignite a millennium long war no matter the losses just to bring hollow glory to their houses, enough said). Of course as the Belial's were typically kind rulers, their people immediately rallied and waited for the old descendant's retaliation. As the subjects of house Belial went about their business, the Lord of the House was currently in his office attending to a "guest".

'…Oh fuck me backwards…' Okay, attending may be a strong word.

Lord Belial was trying his hardest to keep calm and not give away his nervousness (though by the way the guest was looking at him, he wasn't doing a good job). Though the noises that constantly came from the outside brought a small smile to Lord Belial's face, the fact that his people would back up his decision without hesitation filled the Head with a certain level of pride.

It was that bit of pride that helped keep back the wave of anxiety his guest was giving him.

'Why…Why did they have to send her?' Seated in front of Lord Belial's desk was a woman. The woman was tall, at least 5'8 with a gold and red shirt along with a black skirt. She was a very beautiful woman with a well endowed figure and a gorgeous face. She had 2 very defining features. Her ruby like red eyes and her long, silver hair that were done in 2 braids.

She was a Pure-Blooded Devil from the Extra Demon house that served the Lucifer Clan and the strongest female Devil the Pro-War Faction has ever produced, Grayfia Lucifuge.

Yeah, this is not turning out to be Lord Belial's day.

The silence was deafening as they sat there watching each other. Lord Belial just stared at her cold and professional face, trying to get anything from it. He was drawing a blank. 'What the hell is she thinking about!?' He was close to snapping from the pressure. I mean, he gets that they can't compare to the Buné Clan in terms of status or power but to send Grayfia!? Really!?

'…This is pointless.' Grayfia thought with an internal sigh. She knew what her presence was doing to the Head but she made no move to alleviate his worries. 'Well…more like I shouldn't.' With 2 different vanguards now backing out from the faction, the old descendants were less than pleased and the head of House Lucifer specially ordered Grayfia teach Lord Belial a lesson.

A lesson she really didn't feel like doing. Grayfia, like the majority of her generation, didn't want war and she herself thought it was a waste of time. Even though she grew up around that sentiment, Grayfia didn't care about domination and doing evil things just for the hell of it. Especially after being assigned to monitor Sirzechs Gremory. He constantly spoke of how family and love was the true source of power; coming from a monster like him it seemed more than just talk. He was still an idiot though.

'I wonder if he's still teaching his choir the song…' Grayfia idly thought, forgetting she was in a stare off with a very antsy Lord. 'I have a bad feeling about that…' She frowned at the Gremory Prince's plan to have his kids sing the song of peace at the Underworld's capital in a couple of days. Something her brother said yesterday to her when she came home unsettled her but she didn't know wh-

"Umm…" Lord Belial finally spoke up and Grayfia came back from her musings. "C-Can I help you Miss Grayfia?"

"…" She just stared at the man and he started sweating again before she ultimately sighed. "You know why I'm here Lord Belial. The old descendants aren't happy and wish to know why you are defecting." Granted, wish actually meant demanded but whatever. Lord Belial took a deep breath before explaining the circumstances on the original Belial's wishes and how he had to honor them.

"I'm sorry Miss Grayfia but I won't change my decision." Lord Belial said with finality and a resolute look appeared in his eyes. Grayfia stood silent for a minute (a very excoriating minute in Lord Belial's perspective) before responding.

"Okay I understand."

"…"

"…"

"…Really?" That threw Lord Belial for a loop and he watched in caution as Grayfia stood up. She said that she wanted to stay in the castle for a couple of days and hoped he could accommodate her. Like he was going to say no. He knew why Grayfia chose to stay and it was to make sure he sticks to his word. While the descendants couldn't force the Belial's to stay in their camp, it didn't mean they will let the Belial's join the Anti-War faction. Lord Belial had no plans to do that though, as the letter made it clear that the Belial's should just stay out the fight. Calling a maid to take Grayfia to one of the nicer rooms in the castle, Lord Belial thought to send out his soldiers to resume searching for the Stray Exorcists but decided against doing so. Just because Grayfia was amicable, it did not mean the descendants will agree with letting them go quietly.

"Oh yes, that reminds me." Grayfia spoke when she was at the door and turned back to look at Lord Belial. "I heard that you had an "infestation" problem. Do you need help with that?" Grayfia wasn't one to loiter around and would gladly wipe out the Exorcist problem the Belial's had. Unlike the surrounding Lords who would deal with it the moment it becomes their problem, Grayfia believed in solving a problem before it can become an issue. Lord Belial narrowed his eyes at the silver haired Devil's offer for a second before nodding.

"I would appreciate the help. I sent out someone to handle it and I'm waiting for his results."

"Who is it?"

"You wouldn't know him, he's a human." Grayfia quirked a brow at that. It wasn't that she had something against humans but for a Lord to request help from a human was very rare.

'What kind of person willingly goes to the Underworld and helps a Devil Lord?' That was all that went through her mind as she was led to her room by a random maid.

* * *

**3 Hours Later, Belhor**

"Hm?" I looked out into the distance and gained a thoughtful look.

"What happened?" Jack asked as he shuffled the cards. We were still sitting on the porch of the house but there was now a table and we sat on opposite ends. I took out some playing cards and taught him how to play Bullshit. The game's title perfectly illustrated how I felt right now playing against the Devil (probably should have seen that coming). I didn't react as I closed my eyes before speaking.

"I felt…a disturbance in the Force." I had a dramatic look in my eyes and solemnly said.

"…Pierce that's the third time you said that. I don't know what that means but if you want to stop playing we can." Jack deadpanned and I glared at him.

"You're cheating, I know you are and I will find out how you do it! Mark my words!"

"Hey man, you're the one that wanted to play." Jack shrugged before dealing out the cards. Grumbling, I picked them up and looked them over before taking out two cards.

"2 Quee-"

"Bullshit." Jack said without skipping a beat and I blankly stared.

"…You know what, screw you and screw card games." I tossed my hand on the table and Jack chuckled at my bitter tone. Ignoring him, I looked at the town and saw nothing out of place. It seemed like I was wrong and the Exorcist weren't headed here. I've been activating Chi Vision every couple of minutes since we got here but there hasn't been any changes. Everything was in order; the bored soldiers stationed around the perimeter, the regular citizens going about their day, and the mayor's aura still in his hous-

"…Wait." I furrowed my brows and focused once more on Dagmar's office. He wasn't in there.

"What is it?" Jack saw my serious face and looked at the house as well.

"Did you ever see Dagmar leave?" I narrowed my eyes at Jack's "no" and sensed all over the house. Now if it was only Dagmar's aura that disappeared then it wouldn't have been a problem, it was the fact that I couldn't feel anyone's aura inside. It was a big house and I saw more than one servant but now I can't feel anything. I couldn't find any Devils or plants that were inside; it was like something was shielding the build-

"Crap!" I cursed out loud and immediately turned on Touki, sprinting towards the house. Jack scrambled after me but I didn't slow down as I made it in front of the building and smashed the door to pieces. I narrowly dodged the black claw that tried to claw my face off and punched it in the stomach, breaking it to pieces. Two more black creatures came out and I saw they were humanoid shadow monsters. 'Where have I seen these?' I felt an odd sense of nostalgia but I didn't dwell on it as I moved and ripped the 2 creatures to pieces. The commotion alerted the soldiers and they came to the scene with Jack finally making it.

"Are they here?!" Jack asked and I said a quick "yes!" before looking up at the building into the window of Dagmar's office and saw how it seemed to be covered in a black frame. I immediately jumped high in the air and smashed through the window, being met with a spongy shadow barrier. Taking out my sword, I coated it with Chi and cut the shield in half, landing in the room. Looking around, I saw a bunch of cloaked figures (though the crosses and Bibles gave them away) and they were surrounding the still form of the major. One of the Exorcists moved forward and held a cross out at me.

"You shall receive judgment now Devil! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Hol-" He never got to finish as I punched him hard in the face.

"How about you fuck off!" I dropped another 2 priests that tried to help their friend. They swarmed me with all manner of weapons (swords, spears, daggers, etc.) but I beat them all down. Catching the blade of one priest, I felt a small burning sensation on my hand and they looked at me in shock.

"Y-You're human!?" I smacked the priest to the side, definitely hearing a faint snap, and observed the sword they were using. I frowned when the handle started burning through my Touki like the Sword of Damocles did. Sweeping under the leg of another, I caught the spear they dropped and was shocked to find the same thing happened. 'These can't all be Holy Weapons can they?' I threw the holy spear and speared a priest, the spear cleanly poking out his back. I cut off the head of another priest and slashed off the legs of the remaining 3. I looked around the scene of carnage and walked over to the prone Dagmar. Surprisingly, the Devil was still alive, injured but alive. I picked him up and tossed him outside towards the soldiers.

"Catch!" I warned and the soldiers caught the injured major, quickly tending to his wounds. Ducking, a shadow monster flew over me and landed on the ground. Slicing it in half, more started to swarm me and I got to work clearing them out. Lifting my foot, I crushed a monster that came out of my shadow and created a Chi Spear that pierced multiple shadow monsters. 'Where are you?' I knew someone had to be controlling these monsters yet with their ability to hide life forces, I was stuck. Deciding the first thing to do when getting back to Olympus is to improve my sensing ability, I caught a shadow monster by the neck and idly observed it.

It wasn't a solid form, it constantly shifted and morphed into something else yet it kept a humanoid frame. It wasn't like the shadow creatures from Melissa's Shadow Realm as I could easily crush them to pieces. Squeezing, the monster dispersed yet more kept jumping out at me. Slicing it straight down the middle, I jumped back when the pieces became two smaller monsters. I quickly cut them to pieces as well and sidestepped a bunch of shadow tendrils that tried to stop entrap me. Making my Touki denser, I rammed into the wall and ended up in the hallway where the corpse of a maid laid. 'Damn it.' Giving a small sorry to the needless loss of life, I sent Chi Swords at every shadow monster that came my way and eventually reached the first floor. I saw a black haired man with a priest and he was surrounded by dozens of large four armed shadow monsters. "Hey-"

_**"Ingentia ad Visionem et in Verborum Dei."**_ The man spoke softly as his shadow shot all over the room, effectively trapping me in there with him. While I had no problem with that, I quickly learned of one issue. I couldn't see or hear a thing and the shadows monsters (that had no life force) perfectly blended with the black surroundings.

"…Sure. _**Gryttr Ham**_. _**Auka Atrið." **_Quickly using my magic, I crossed my arms and waited for the attack. I didn't wait long as something punched me in the right rib but it was a mosquito bite at best. Dozens of fists started hitting me all over and I held on for a minute before smiling, catching one of the monster's arm. I couldn't see or hear but my sense of smell still existed, I just needed a minute to get the monster's scent. I had one question though.

"Why do shadows smell like Swiss cheese?" Not hearing my own voice (except in my head), I flung the shadow monster around and hit the other's with it. I stared wildly cutting with my sword and I could "smell" the figures being cut. Punching through the chest of one monster, I ripped it apart and smelled another come from behind me. I jumped over it and landed on its shoulder, crushing its head. This was honestly the weirdest fight I had to date and more than once did I Chi Burst around when I smelled some projectile flying through the air at me. Oddly enough they smelled like strawberries. Not thinking on it, I sent Chi Swords in every direction but nothing happened as the attacks kept coming. A couple of minutes passed and my patience finally ran out.

"I'm done with this." Frowning, I used Sword Fury and sliced the black screen clean in half. My hearing returned as a massive boom was heard and the structure came crumbling down. I jumped out into the street and waited for the dust cloud to clear. I observed the rubble, hoping for the man I was fighting to appear but nothing happened and Devil citizens started gathering to see what was happening.

"…Subtlety isn't your strong suit is it?" I turned around and saw Jack holding one of the few priests I kept alive. I walked over to the rubble while shrugging.

"It's overrated." I rummaged through the brick and wood before finding one of the holy weapons. Picking it up, I noticed that while it burned it was nowhere as painful as the Sword of Damocles was. I swung the sword around and found the rate at which it emitted holy energy increased but I also noticed how the sword was slowly becoming hotter.

"Do you mind?" Jack shifted uncomfortably from his spot a couple of meters from me.

"Sorry." I gave an apologetic smile and put the holy weapon in the space ring. Finding a spear and another sword I put them away and walked back to Jack. He tied up the priest and nodded at me. "Let's go." After making sure Dagmar was going to be okay, we walked back to the house and placed the priest on the ground. "You want to take a shot with this one?"

"It would be my pleasure." Jack gave a bloodthirsty smile and grabbed the priest by the neck, shaking him awake. The priest quickly came to but before he could say anything Jack held out his hand. _**"Verum ut Liberem te."**_ A magic circle appeared over the priest's head before disappearing. "Where's the rest of your group?" The priest scuffed at Jake's question.

"You won't get anything from me, Devil. I will never tell you that they are staying at the nearby cove by the east river." The priest smiled victoriously before hearing what he just said. I would have enjoyed the look of shock on the priest's face if I wasn't confused too.

"What the hell was that?"

"A truth telling spell." Jack said simply and I gave him a weird look.

"So why didn't you just use that on the priest in the church?"

"You looked like you had it." Jack shrugged and I stared at him for a second before letting it go. I walked up to the priest and picked him up; he was going to be our guide.

"You should be ashamed of yourself." The priest gave me a look of disgust and disdain.

"Is that so?" I off handily said as I tied his hands behind his back. Boy did that set him off.

"Yes! You should! You're conspiring with Devils you damned man!" The priest spit everywhere as he continued. "Devils are evil, vile creatures that care for nothing but sin and carnage! They gladly kill legions of humans for their souls and will do that to you when you're done helping them! Do you not see your-"

"And humans are kind, innocent beings that only want the best from each other and everlasting peace?" I said with a bored look and the priest gaped at me. "Look man I don't care about the morality of how Devils work or the sacredness that is my soul. This is a job; I really don't a damn about your piddley ass war between your two factions. I just want to get paid." Leaving it at that, I kicked the priest out the door and motioned for him to walk. "After you." The priest stared before turning and walking in a random direction. I looked at Jack and saw him watching me with an odd face. "What?"

"Nothing, it's just…you're quite honest for a human."

"…Jack, what kind of people have you met?"

"Human nobles." Jack deadpanned and I blinked.

"…Nevermind." I followed after the priest with Jack chuckling behind me.

* * *

**Unknown Cove**

In the middle of a cave, a tall middle aged man with long blond hair stood next to a young boy. The young boy was quite short for his age with black hair that oddly had strands of gray hairs. The boy was currently praying in front of a portable altar and after sitting there for ten minutes, outstretched his hands. A bright white orb appeared in his hands and the older man watched with careful attention as a single drop of water fell out of the orb. He caught the drop with a basin and carefully brought it over to a bottle on the side, pouring the drop inside. The bottle was full of the same water and the ripple when the drop fell inside sent out bursts of light. The older man smiled before hearing the labored coughing of the boy and quickly gave him some pills.

"Here." The boy gave thanks before swallowing the pill and his complexion got better. However, more gray hairs appeared on the boy's head and his nose bled. The man frowned. "It's starting to become too much."

"It's okay, I knew the stakes." The boy smiled weakly and laid back. "It's for God's will."

"…For God's will." The older man mimicked before calling someone to take the boy somewhere to recover. He sat there for a minute before looking at a shadow in the corner. "You came back alone. So they sent someone stronger?" The black haired priest that was controlling the shadow monsters walked out covered in soot.

"Yes they did and it's not a Devil, a strong human is helping them." The blond man frowned even harder now.

"Some people just don't deserve God's mercy." The blond man shook his head at the thought of humans helping evil beings like Devils. "It's early but we have enough. Take Hayden along with a portion of the priest's and bring them to other towns. Cause some more chaos before leaving the Underworld."

"And you?"

"I'll be done then. If not…then may I die doing God's work." The blond man did a short prayer and just as he finished, a magic circle appeared in front of him. A screen was on the magic circle and it showed three men with one being a fellow priest. The others he did not recognize. One was a young man with black hair and a strange outfit.

"That's him, the human I was talking about." The black haired man frowned and pointed at the image of Pierce. "He's not someone to take on lightly. My Asura's couldn't do anything against him and he could fight well even with my subspecies." The blond man stared a bit longer at the image of the trio before standing up.

"I'll deal with them. Just get everyone out Miller." He walked to the door as he conjured a magic circle and a large claymore came out of it. "I won't be long."

Miller nodded and watched as his leader went to deal with the intruders. Taking anything that could give away their plan, Miller went to alert the rest of the priests about leaving. He went to young Hayden's room and saw him reading the Bible. He looked and saw the shadow user. "Hello Mister Miller, are we moving?"

"Yes, Lord Ethan is going to keep the intruders busy while we escape." Miller explained and Hayden gained a worried look.

"Will Mister Ethan be okay?"

"He'll be fine Hayden." Miller smiled at the young boy's concern. "The intruders are strong but they are nothing against Lord Ethan." Giving one last reassuring pat, Miller took Hayden into his shadow and they escaped the cove. Leaving the former top-class Exorcist Ethan Cristaldi to deal with the human and Devil attackers.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

"…I got a bad feeling about this." I frowned as I felt us passing a magic barrier a couple of minutes ago but no one came to stop us. Jack, the priest and I walked into the cove completely unhindered. 'Where have I seen this before?' While it didn't matter, as I needed to take down all the priests, I would prefer to face something head on than what's going on now. All my thoughts on the matter stopped once I felt the aura that was calmly walking towards us.

"Hey Jack there's some-" I quickly dodged to the right and barely missed the Light Sword that flew by me…nailing the priest we captured in the heart. I watched in shock as the priest dropped to his knees and I looked at where it came from. A tall blond haired man holding a large claymore walked towards us and glanced at the pierced priest.

"Don't fear it, The Lord knows of your service and thanks you. Rest now." The man said all this calmly and I was watched as the dying priest actually smiled in gratitude.

"Thank you…" The priest gave one last thanks before dropping to the ground dead.

'…This is why I hate fanatics.' Shaking my head at the absurdity of it all, I looked the man over and stared at the claymore in his hand. It was emitting a large amount of holy energy and it seemed more stable than the weapons the earlier priests had. Not wasting time, I took out my sword and rushed at the man, swinging down. He easily blocked it and I had to quickly lean back before my head was taken off. Feeling a small cut on my neck, I slashed at him dozens of times and he parried them all. Moving with tremendous speed, he nicked me on the side and I pierced at this chest. I felt a small ting and saw how his chest seemed to be made of metal. Jack tried to flank the man but he blocked Jack's attack and ignored the illusions he conjured. The man pushed me back and sent a volley of light spears, forcing me to Chi Burst to the side.

_**"Gryttr Ham**_. _**Auka Atrið."**_ I slammed against the priest, sending him flying back yet he landed unharmed. I sliced at him with even greater speed and I was able to land a couple more cuts on the man. Impressed, the blond priest upped his game and started using multiple protection barriers in our fight. Smashing a barrier to pieces, I ducked under the claymore and tried to punch the priest in the stomach but he kicked my fist away. Jack grabbed the priest from the back and I tried to slash at him.

_**"Nova Lux."**_ The priest chanted, causing light to erupt from him and push us both back. Jack screamed in pain but I couldn't help him as the man was on me again. We clashed swords multiple times and I could feel my irritation grow stronger as time passed. I was stronger than the man yet he perfectly met my attacks without missing a beat. All I needed was one clean hit but he wasn't going to give it to me. "You're quite strong; you would make a fine Exorcist." The man offhandedly said as we fought.

"Maybe in the next life!" I cut at his neck but he parried that too and elbowed me in the face. I sent Chi Swords at him and he stopped them with another barrier. I slashed at the ceiling and rocks started to fall down, forcing us to separate. I kneeled next to Jack and saw how he had multiple burns over his body. Giving him my Chi, I picked him up and hurriedly blocked the man's blade. The fight became even harder as I was now carrying Jack and I had to grit my teeth when the man gave me a deep gash on the shoulder. "Isn't this the point where you stop and talk about your master plan?!" The man stopped momentarily and looked at me oddly.

"Why would I tell vital information to an enemy for no reason?"

"…Exactly!" I never understood that troupe either but I would really appreciate it right now. "Jade!" Summoning my familiar, it appeared in front of me and sent an ice wave at the man. Dodging the attack, I had Jade make an ice wall and I booked it for the entrance. I could hear the ice wall being destroyed but I didn't stop as Light Swords were thrown in my direction. Exiting the cove, I used Sword Fury and slashed the entrance in half, covering it in rubble. Not risking it, I ran a couple of miles back in Belhor's direction before stopping, breathing heavily. I looked back to see no one chasing me and assumed the man gave up on chasing me. Giving more Chi to the knocked out Jack, I faced the direction of Belhor and ran like hell.

* * *

**1 Hour Later Belhor, Major's House**

"...I'm sorry." Jack apologized as he sat on a couch while I looked out a window.

"Jack, for the last time you don't need to apologize." I shook my head at the Devil's constant remorse. I didn't go all out against the blond priest because there were definitely more enemies that would attack and it would be very bad if I used up all my strength. Deciding to retreat and re plan, I informed Lord Belial of what we did and he said he'll send us someone to help us. I sat there waiting for the reinforcements to come and Jack eventually came to, apologizing since then.

"Doesn't change the fact I barely did anything." Jack grumbled under his breath and I sighed in exhaustion.

"Then do better next time, don't whine about it so much." I left Jack alone after that and took out one of the holy weapons I stored earlier. Placing it on the table, I looked it over and found out something interesting. The amount of holy energy inside the weapon was far less than earlier and the metal seemed to be smudged, like it was being burned from the inside. The rest of the weapons were also like this and when I snapped the blade in half, the holy energy came out in a wave of blinding heat. While my Touki protected me, Jack had to take cover until the light fully went away.

"What the hell was that!?" He peeked up from the behind the now burnt couch.

"I...have no idea." I stared at the two pieces in wonder but before I could experiment with the other weapons I felt a female aura move towards the room.

And it was massive.

Narrowing my eyes, I took out my sword and looked at the door in apprehension. The aura said she was a Devil but she had an aura of power that far surpassed any being I've met so far since coming to this world (aside from the Greek Gods). My mind was working on overdrive on how to escape if this being was hostile, it eventually reached the door and stood outside. Then she knocked.

"..."

"..."

"...Well?" Jack asked

"You can answer it." I let Jack be the one to do it as I took a couple steps back. Giving me an odd look, Jack walked to the door and opened it, letting the person inside. A tall beautiful woman stepped into the room. She looked like she was in her 20's with long silver hair that were done in two braids and red eye's that glowed in the ligh-

'...No way.' My eyes widened to the saucers as I recognized the woman in front of me. She looked at me before bowing.

"Hello, my name is Grayfia Lucifuge. Lord Belial sent me to help you with your Exorcist hunt, I hope to be of service." Grayfia said this all in a professional but pleasant tone and looked ready to work. The silence was deafening as I stood there gobsmacked with Jack also shocked (for another reason) and Grayfia waited patiently for a response.

'...Don't say it.' It would be so easy. 'Don't say it.' I mean she's right here. 'Don't. Say. It.'

"..."

"..."

"...Sakuya Izayoi is still the better maid." The moment that left my mouth Grayfia's fist hit me in the face and I was flung far back.

Totally worth it.

* * *

And done. Pierce hits a snag and finally meets one of the main canon characters to help. There I did it, now I hope you fiends will be satisfied. I'll see where I can take this but don't expect a miracle. I hope you enjoyed!

Edit: Pierce will not make it to Canon in _this_ story. I might make another where he is but that's in the future.

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	24. Chapter 23

**_Answers to reviewers statements or questions_**

**To Everyone**: Pierce won't make it Canon in this story! I might make another story where he is in Canon but I don't want to make any promises I can't keep. I don't really know how to include Pierce into Canon, so until I finish A Minor Tale and get inspiration, Canon will have to wait. By the way, Pierce will get longevity (what kind? You're going to need to read to find out) and that's pretty obvious all things considered. A world where an entire race can live 10,000 years but the main character doesn't? I like taking a realistic approach to fictional stories but not that much.

**HiragaSaito16:** Nope, mine definitely isn't the best but I'm happy for your high praise. The harem will include Melissa, Maven, Athena (obviously) and another 2 that I will say when it becomes obvious...well that was the plan but Grayfia wasn't one of them and now I'm on the fence. I agree, too many and the story becomes cluttered and that's why I was going to stop at 5 women. I'm never going to make a chapter solely on dates or spending time with them, but too many will still feel uncomfortable. I don't really care for Milicas (I'm not emotionally invested in the character) so having Grayfia in the harem is based on how I'm feeling honestly. If you want her then said so in the reviews if not then I'll decide another day.

**Flamingp0tat0:** He doesn't. Sirzechs just calls them his kids because they are his choir. Like how a teacher will call his students his "kids".

**Hashirama1710:** He's 16 physically. Mentally he's 38 (you know, because he has his memory of his past life as a 22 year old). You'll need to read to see if he stays human.

* * *

**Chapter 23: The Good, the Bad, and the Gray**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I wonder if Ichiei made a will and decided who DxD will go to when he dies. I own the OCs. Maybe I should write a will and have A Minor Tale given to my kids.

Speech - "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts - 'I'm dead.'

Spells - **_"Jumon"_**

* * *

_**Belhor, Major's House**_

Advice is a funny thing. You could ask for it or you can give it out to others. The only requirement is that the one giving advice needs to have experience in the topic at hand. Of course you can give advice on a topic you have no real experience with, say for example relationships, and most of the time common sense is the way to go. So naturally, when you ask someone on how you should react when meeting an anime character there's no real answer.

Why? Because no one has ever had the pleasure of meeting a fictional character so they have no advice to give (if they have then that's a whole different conversation). Since there has been no precursor, you could only assume your reaction once meeting a long loved anime character. Maybe you would react like someone meeting a famous person on TV, maybe you would act cool about it or you would completely fan girl over them with heart shaped hearts. Moral of the story, there are a lot of ways you could react when meeting a fictional character and some aren't the ways you want to make a good first impression.

Calling Grayfia out on her being an obvious copy of the time controlling, knife wielding maid may not have been the best choice.

'...It was still worth it.' I sat on a chair; rubbing the cheek that was hit by the silver haired Devil (she didn't hit me that hard, it was just surprising. I was expecting a "what?" at best). Grayfia was bowing in front of me and Jack was standing in the corner, observing the odd situation.

"I am very sorry for my actions. I…honestly have no idea why I did that." Grayfia apologized for her "sudden impulse" and I narrowed my eyes.

"So you don't know who Sakuya is?" Grayfia shook her head at my question.

"No, I have never heard of that name before." Grayfia was equally confused by her reaction and I could see that on her face. Choosing not to poke the universal anime laws any further, I let it go and asked her if she was the reinforcement. "Yes, Lord Belial sent me to help you track down the rest of the Exorcists."

"…But why? Don't you know Lord Belial is backing out of your faction?" I don't know what possessed me to ask that and Grayfia's nod only made me more confused. "Then why would you help him? Don't get me wrong, your help is welcome, but it doesn't make sense." My decision to question beings that are stronger than me will probably get me in trouble one day but today must not be that day as Grayfia smiled.

"Because Lord Belial and his clan are still Devils. My clan may serve the Lucifer's and their descendants but all Devils could be considered his children. So it is my role to protect the ones who can't protect themselves and allow all Devils to thrive in the Underworld." She said this all with such heartfelt words that I had no witty comeback and Jack was shocked.

'…Huh, I guess she was already like this before marrying Sirzechs.' I tilted my head in question. "And how do your masters feel about that sentiment?"

"They're…less than amused."

"Really? And they don't try to forcefully change your mind?"

"I would like to see them try." Grayfia smirked and I snorted.

'Right, strongest being from the Old Satan Faction besides Rizevim and that spoiled brat that probably makes someone wipe his ass for him.' I stood up, patting off the nonexistent dust on my shirt and held out my hand. "Welcome aboard." Grayfia firmly shook my hand. "Oh yeah, this is Jake." Introducing my temporary partner in crime, we got to work planning the Exorcist's next steps. They obviously wouldn't remain in the cove (if they did then I would feel very stupid for not checking) and try to attack some other officials in another town. The question was which one and if they choose to ignore some for others. I already asked which town was closest to here and it was some placed called Filihel.

"So they're moving on foot?" Grayfia asked for confirmation, to which I nodded. "Then we can catch up with my Pale Horse." Jack was visibly shocked at that.

"Y-You have a Pale Horse as a Familiar?!"

"What's that?" I asked and Jack said they came from Cocytus, the deepest part of the Underworld. They have incredible speed, being able to jump through ports in space and are quite difficult to capture. "Cool, let's get going then."

"I'll wait in front of the building, Silver doesn't like cramped spaces." Grayfia walked to the door and gave her an odd look.

"Silver? Really? Isn't that kind of unorigi-" I stopped once I remembered the name I gave my Familiar. My green, rabbit Familiar. "…Nevermind."

"…You suck at names too don't you?" Jack deadpanned.

"No one was talking to you!" Jack chuckled at my outburst and Grayfia smiled before leaving.

"I have to say; today's been a real eye opener."

"What do you mean?"

"Just…this and how you act even though we're from different species." Jack explained with a smile. "It's nice to meet a human who doesn't care about our past and willingly helps us, thank you."

'…Damn, now I feel like a greedy asshole.' I scratched the back of my head as I thought of my reasons for doing this. Granted I told Jack about the reward, his high evaluation made me uncomfortable. I was not that noble.

"And Miss Grayfia was not what I was expecting. I've heard of her but it seems like most of the stories were…exaggerated."

"…You sure are blunt aren't you?"

"Sorry, Mephisto likes to talk in circles a lot." Jack apologized and I waved away his worries. We walked outside and saw Grayfia petting a large, silver (of course) horse. It's mane was made of white flames and its hide shinned like crystals. If I didn't feel the deathly aura it was emitting, I would have assumed the horse was of a holy origin. Grayfia told us to hop on and so we did, the silver haired Devil patting the Pale Horse.

Giving a large huff, the Familiar started running in the direction of the next town, slowly getting faster and faster. The surroundings quickly became a blur as Belhor got farther away and the next moment a portal appeared right in front of us. The horse then jumped in it.

* * *

**The Dimensional Gap**

All that I could see was a cornucopia of colors in every direction, like looking through a kaleidoscope (I've never actually looked through one but it was the best I could compare it too). There was nothing in the sea of colors that would catch my interest but I was speechless nonetheless and Jack shared my awe. A barrier protected us from the "nothingness" of the Gap as the Pale Horse trotted along without a road to run on.

"What the fuck!?" I made my first point clear. Grayfia must have found my reaction funny since she chuckled.

"Pale Horse's can open portals and navigate through the Dimensional Gap to reach other places without obstruction. If the rumors are to be believed, the Holy Sword Caliburn was created with the Pale Horse's innate ability in mind." Grayfia calmly explained her Familiar's ability and its connection with the legendary Sword in the Stone.

"So what's the difference between having a Pale Horse and Caliburn?"

"The Pale Horse can only go into the Dimensional Gap once a day since it takes up so much energy. They typically reside in Cocytus and it's a barren land with nothing but ice, so they use this ability to go somewhere habitable to eat. A person using Caliburn can go into the Dimensional Gap multiple times and the creators made it so few barriers can stop the Holy Sword's space powers."

"Ah…" I nodded at Grayfia's explanation and it made sense for the most part. The majority of human made artifacts or spells were created by mimicking supernatural beings. Caliburn was an improvement on the Pale Horse's teleportation ability along with the power to emit an immense amount of Holy aura and incredible sharpness. We kept moving along and I looked around in all directions, remembering something really important.

"What are you looking for?" Jack noticed my actions and asked.

'A blacked haired loli in a goth outfit or a big ass red lizard who acts like a delinquent.' Not saying this out loud (and remembering how stupid a world I was in), I stopped looking around since I didn't find either. "Nothing, just seeing if anything actually lives here." Grayfia shook her head at my comment.

"Only beings protected by magic could go into the Dimensional Gap and that's just going in. There are no true creatures that originate from here beside the Ouroboros Dragon."

"…And she's where exactly?" I subtly (not really) asked where Ophis was.

"She?" Grayfia frowned at the label. "Who told you the Dragon God was a woman?"

"Is she not?"

"The Dragon God is an old man." She corrected and I blinked.

'Oh right, shape shifter.' I guess Ophis hasn't changed from an old man to the little girl form yet. 'I wonder why she did that though. Was that the form of an old friend? Or did she change without really thinking about it?' Those questions swirled in my head and they had to be answered another day because a portal appeared in front of us. We went through it and ended up in an open field, there was a road in front of us that lead to a large town. Grayfia's Pale Horse looked visibly taxed and she gave it something to eat.

"We're here, that's Filihel." Grayfia petted her familiar before sending it back from where it came from.

"…That took like 2 minutes…"

"You sound disappointed." Grayfia raised a brow at my tone and I sighed.

"It's not that, it's just…that was my first time in the Dimensional Gap and it was so…"

"Boring?" Jack said.

"…Well yeah!" I exclaimed while waving my hands. Don't get me wrong it was really cool and I would definitely take another trip through it but that was uneventful as hell! 'I mean I wasn't expecting some grand battle in a realm of infinite nothingness or anything like that but seriously, that was a pleasant stroll at best!' "Let's just go." Sighing, I walked ahead with the two confused Devils and approached the town.

The walk over was quiet enough with only Jack asking what they would do if the Exorcists didn't head here. I just said we would wait until an incident happened and follow the trail from there, if there was a trail to be picked up. While it wasn't the most elaborate plan it was the best I could come up with the limited information at hand. Though I had the feeling we were in the right place. Why?

"Halt! State your business!" Because a bunch of soldiers called us out when we approached the town gate and they did not look friendly. They quickly surrounded us and a guard with fancier looking armor came forward to face us. He looked us over for a second before narrowing his eyes at me.

'Oh I smell a misunderstanding.' I idly thought as the head guard unsheathed his sword and pointed at me.

"He's human." The man said that with so much anger that I didn't need to read his aura to know how pissed off he was and the other guards were of the same mind. They slowly closed in on us and I held up my hands in surrender.

"Now hold on, let's just take a breather here." I spoke in the gentlest tone I could muster and the guards stopped. "Great, now can someone explain the reason for the hostility?" I already had an idea on why though.

"A group of Exorcists attacked this town and they caused a lot of damage before escaping. You wouldn't have anything to do with that would you?" The Head Guard asked sarcastically and I deadpanned.

"Do you not see the 2 Devils right next to me?" I pointed to Grayfia and Jack to make my point but the guard was not appeased.

"They're the only reason we haven't attacked you yet."

"Look we were hired by Lord Belial to hunt down those Exorcists; if you could let us in and show us where they attacked we can follow their trail…probably." I gave my offer and the guard thought heavily about it. A minute passed as he stayed in deep thought before speaking.

"Do you have a letter of authenticity from Lord Belial himself?" I nodded at his question and was about to rub my space ring to take out Lord Belial's Edict but the guard stopped me. "Give me your storage ring, I'll check myself."

"Come on man, reall- Alright, alright!" I stopped my complaint when the guards pointed their spears closer and I tossed the ring over to the head guard. If what their auras were telling me was correct, I alone was strong enough to beat these men not to mention the powerhouse that was Grayfia next to me. But I didn't want to do that, they were just attacked and had to be extra careful around strangers, especially human ones (besides using your strength to manhandle those weaker than you is a dick move).

The Head Guard rubbed the space ring and his consciousness was sent inside to see through my stuff (that's how a space ring works). We sat there in silence as the Devil tried to find Lord Belial's Edict and after a minute he did indeed take something out. But it wasn't their Lord's edict.

It was a Light Sword I took from one of the Exorcists.

'…Bitch.' I internally cursed as the guard's glared in my direction after seeing the very recognizable weapon. "Um…that's not mine?"

"Is that so?" The Head Guard rhetorically said and dropped the Light Sword.

"Actually I stole that from a priest after beating him up so it's technically not mine…I'm not helping my case am I?" The guard's slowly closed in on us. "You don't want to do this." They didn't stop. "The Edict really is in there just chec-"

A guard lunged at me so I dodged the attack, maneuvering around him and placing him a choke hold. Ignoring his effort to struggle, I looked around and gave the other guards a grave look. "Last chance." They also lunged forward and I tossed the guard I was holding towards them, knocking them down like dominos. I punched a guard back that tried to attack me from the side and ducked under the sweep of another, punching him in the gut. I Chi Burst to the side when a Devil guard came from above and caught the blade of the Head Guard with two Chi coated hands. Kneeing him in the stomach, I grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and tossed him through the gate. Leaning back, I dodged two guard's attacks and grabbed them both by their heads, smashing them together. I tossed the two unconscious guards to the side and saw the rest of the guards were taken care of by my companions. The Head Guard wobbly stood up from the destroyed gate and glared at us.

"Look man, let's just talk about th-" I caught a spear that the guard threw at me and frowned. "Hey! I've been nice and haven't killed any of your men so can we jus-" I was interrupted once again as dozens of Devils flew from the city and some landed, helping the beaten Head Guard up.

"Sir what are your orders?" One Devil spoke and the Head Guard pointed over to us with his bloodied hand (oh come on! I didn't even hit him that hard!). The message was clear.

"…So what now?" Jack asked as even more Devil's from the city came to fight. I sighed.

"Try not to kill anyone." I activated Touki and stepped forward to face the Devils. I only said try since some things were unavoidable. They did start this after all. "And for the record, I did try to avoid this cliché! But no, you had to be allergic to talking this through and went guns first! I like a good fight as much as the next guy but this all could have been avoided! I'm trying to get paid out here and you're getting in the way so fuck you; you generic, unimportant, trigger happy side character!" With my rant finished, I breathed heavily and everyone looked at me like I was crazy.

"…What is wrong with you?" The Head Guard said what was on everyone's mind.

"…I know how long you guys live and it won't be enough time to go through the whole list." I deadpanned but no one reacted. "Oh let's just fight already."

Then they charged at us.

* * *

**Olympus, Training Grounds**

"Ha!" Melissa gave out a yell as she clashed blades with Vargas. The spirit inheritor easily pushed her back but she was quickly on him, slashing at him multiple times. Vargas parried the majority of the attacks but he was surprised when shadow arms popped out from Melissa's back. Holding their own shadow daggers, Vargas had to kick his game up as he attacked with six limbs. Moving with grace that really didn't match his frame, Vargas cut off two of Melissa's shadow arms before he was kicked in the face with a Chi coated foot. Even for a defense type combatant like Vargas that kick hurt, his nose bled and he reached out with his hand.

**_"Leucaspidem sanctus est sanguis!"_** A white shield with a bloody cross on it appeared and blocked Melissa's shadow daggers. She jumped back in surprise as the shield emitted a dense holy aura and obliterated her shadows.

"Hey! You said you wouldn't use your Odes!" Melissa huffed in anger and Vargas sweat dropped.

'So you can use your powers but I can't use mine?' Vargas thought in mirth before Adrian's voice rang out.

"Vargas was to incapacitate you in the least costly way possible. Using his stronger Odes like his Templars or Avatar is a bit much but that shield is fine." Adrian sat on the side observing the two parties members spar.

"What's the point in doing that though? Shouldn't we just go all out at the beginning to quickly defeat our enemy? That's what my clan members taught me."

"But what happens when you use up too much energy and have to fight another, possibly stronger, enemy?" Adrian took Melissa's silence as his point getting across. "You should only use the necessary amount of strength to take out an enemy and leave yourself in good condition for more surprises. Overkill if you must but only do it when you're sure there are no more enemies around."

"Besides this teaches you something." Vargas added on the side.

"And what's that?"

"That being physically or magically stronger than your opponent doesn't guarantee victory." In hindsight, while Vargas had greater strength and durability then Melissa, she was faster. Not to mention her shadow manipulation gave her the versatility to be a very annoying opponent. It was Vargas' careful use of his strength and his battle experience that allowed him to trump over the Yokai. "Unless the disparity is very wide, the one who can fight better is the one who will win. Even if they are weaker." Melissa thought on their words as Adrian stood up.

"Alright, if you're finished Melissa, I would like to spar against Vargas." Adrian said this is all with a smile as he took out his God made sword, it shone brightly with his sun powers. Hephaestus made the sword to smoothly channel large amounts of sunlight and the compatibility would only grow stronger with every usage.

"Sure. I've been meaning to break in my new weapon." Vargas also gave a feral smile as he took out the Sword of Damocles. He barely felt its weight as he twirled the large holy sword in his hand.

'…Men…' Melissa rolled her eyes at both team members' bloodlust. While both had pretty pragmatic attitudes and calm personalities, they were both warriors at heart. They reveled in a good fight and would grow excited overtime. The Shadow Yokai didn't understand the appeal (not to mention her already sore body), so she left the training grounds and didn't react when a loud noise rang out behind her. A shockwave went outwards and she could feel the heat between the two warrior's light based attacks clashing. Ignoring the sounds of the battle, Melissa made her way down the halls of Mount Olympus and reached Maven's room. With her hope rewarded and the time given to them until the Generals come back, the mage went back to locating where her mother was. She trapped herself in her room since this morning and Melissa chose this moment to check up on her. Knocking on the door, Melissa waited for a minute before gently pushing the door open. "Hello? Maven? You in here?" She peeked inside the room to see Maven surrounded by a mountain of obscure magic books and scrolls. '…Where does she get them all?'

"…" Maven didn't seem to notice Melissa's entry and focused on the scroll in her hand. Walking next to a small pile that was separated from the rest, Melissa picked up the book lying on top and read the cover (Pierce gave her the _Magical Languages for Dummies_ so she can read basic magical words).

_Eldritch Vision from the Abyss_

Blinking, Melissa saw that the cover of the book seemed to be made of glossy skin from some unknown creature. The small pile contained similar magic texts like _The Wrong One's Speech_ or _The Crying Truth_. One book even had tentacles wrapped around i- '…Are they twitching?' Yes, the tentacles were indeed twitching.

"Those are Eldritch Spells." Maven answered the Yokai's unasked question and caused her to jump in surprise. "They are from a clan of weird monsters that use illusion magic to make regular humans go completely mad." Melissa placed the book down after that and slowly backed away from the pile.

"So why do you have them?"

"They are also known for making prophecies and divinations."

"Ah…" Seeing why the mage had them, Melissa looked at the rest of the books and they were all on divinations or tracking. Whatever Maven was holding was some level of magic that Melissa's basic knowledge couldn't understand but it looked important. The Yokai sat down next to the mage and picked up a book to read, joining Maven in her search. Silence reigned in the room as both women sat there reading and both waited for the other to speak.

"…"

"…"

"…Melissa?" Maven finally broke and spoke.

"Hm?"

"Can you even understand any of that?" Maven watched as Melissa looked at her (advanced) scroll and rolled it over multiple times before speaking.

"Not a word." She said that with such honesty that Maven couldn't be mad (she wouldn't get mad anyway). "But it's the thought that counts!"

The mage chuckled at the Yokai's answer and felt a warm feeling in her chest. She knew Melissa wanted to help find her parents and that meant a lot since the majority of the people at her school just told her to accept their deaths. If she had, then she would have never tried to find the Mirror of Isis, which Simon knew about and found. Then she would have gone her whole life accepting her parents were gone. She may have chosen to do something else with her life than join Adrian's party and then she would have never met…

"What do you think Pierce is doing right now?" Maven asked, remembering the main reason she now had help in finding her parents.

"Probably something stupid." Melissa said this without skipping a beat and Maven chuckled at the mean, but spot on assumption. "Or he's doing something that's confusing someone and enjoying it."

"…That's specific."

"Am I wrong?"

"…" Maven had no retort.

"Why are you so interested in Pierce all of sudden huh?" Melissa smirked at how red Maven's face got.

"I-I was just wondering if he e-enjoyed my lunchbox." Maven gave a lackluster excuse but Melissa just smiled.

"He did, that guy will eat anything you give him." Melissa selectively ignored how she was the same way. "He'll be back soon enough."

"You're not worried about him?"

"Of course I am but sitting around, thinking about what could happen isn't productive." Maven was impressed by Melissa's attitude. "Besides, if he dies, he'll just end up in the Underworld anyway, so I'll know where to find him!" There it is. Melissa saw Maven's deadpanned face and laughed, saying she was joking.

"You still shouldn't joke about that…" Maven shook her head.

"Oh it'll be fine; he's strong enough to do what he needs and get back without harm, it won't be long before he returns."

"I hope you're right…"

"Of course I'm right, now come on! Sitting in here won't help you find your parents!" Melissa grabbed Maven and pulled her towards the door.

"Where are we going?"

"Adrian gave me the contact information of his broker and we're going to meet him. Maybe he'll have something we can work with." Melissa explained as she led the mage out in the direction of the meeting spot. Maven could only shake her head in amusement. Being dragged along by the Yokai, she chose to stop thinking about the dangers Pierce may find in the Underworld. He's been in the Underworld for a couple of hours at best. He can't possibly get in too much trouble in such a short time period.

Right?

* * *

**Underworld, Filihel**

Burnt houses littered the city as Devils dragged the wounded and dead from the debris. Blood was everywhere as not a single inhabitant was spared from the attack and soldiers with bandages kept a lookout for further attacks. Grayfia, Jack, and I walked along the street to see the damages the Exorcists caused to this small town. The Head Guard followed along (after being bandaged) and was apologizing profusely.

"I'm very, very sorry for my actions! I should have been calmer and listened to you! I'm ver-"

"I told you it's fine, so stop apologizing already. You were just doing your job." This was the third time I told him it was fine but he kept saying sorry. After beating down all the soldiers, I found my space ring and took out the Edict to show them we were legit. Their embarrassed faces when they realized their mistake honestly made me a little less angry about the whole thing. Then we were invited inside the city and any lasting anger over being unreasonably attacked vanished. The town was a mess and the countless wounded made the guard's paranoia very reasonable. I stopped when we were passing a building that looked like an inn and saw an injured kid. His leg cut off and he was being cradled by his mother while a soldier healed the injury that had a holy aura. I could feel my rage increase from seeing that and I clenched my fist so hard, they became a little pale. 'Those pieces of absolute fuckin-'

"Pierce." Jack called out and grabbed my shoulder. "You okay?" I silently stared at the scene before turning around.

"No, I'm not." Enforcers of God's mercy my ass. I'm many things but disabling a kid like that just because he's a Devil is not okay. Promising to bring as much pain as possible to the Stray Exorcists when I find them, we were brought to a large mansion that was partly totaled.

"This is where they escaped." The Head Guard explained how the Exorcists attacked the middle of town and attacked everything in sight before reaching here. They didn't kill the official (who was currently somewhere else in hiding), so they were swallowed by the shadows and escaped the city heading somewhere east. "That was all our sensors could get before they got too far away. We couldn't follow them because…well you know." He motioned towards the destroyed town and I nodded.

"Thank you for the help, we'll try to catch up to them before they can cause anymore damage."

"Please." The Head Guard only said this as he turned around to help the reconstruction. I walked up to the scene and found human Chi Signatures everywhere, leading east into the mountains just like the Devil said.

"What?" Grayfia walked up next to me and asked when she saw my frown.

"I found a trail."

"…And that's a bad thing?"

"They have a shadow user who can completely hide any form of energy, including magic and life force. The fact that I could find a trail meant he either forgot to conceal them or…

…It was purposely done." Grayfia's face became serious and I nodded. The Exorcist didn't seem like the arrogant type as he immediately retreated the moment he saw that his shadow monsters couldn't beat me. To leave his Chi Signature like that was very suspicious.

'…Oh well.' I shrugged and chose to follow the trail anyway. "Let's go." The 2 Devils nodded and unfurled their wings, Jack holding me by my shoulders. Taking off in flight, we quickly reached over the mountain and followed the trail left behind.

"Is there anything we should look out for?" Jack asked over the roaring wind.

"Not really, the attack was pretty recent so they couldn't have covered that much ground yet."

"And when we find them?" I looked up at Jack with a quirked brow.

"…Well I think we should sit down, have a nice conversation on the weather and supernatural world peace of course!"

"…The sarcasm was not needed." Jack deadpanned and I shrugged (well I tried to but being carried by your shoulders makes that difficult).

"We beat them, make them take us to their leader, and then kill them all. In that order."

"But aren't you afraid this could be a trap? You said it yourself; there was no way they left their trail by accident."

"They are holy men in the actual Underworld; I highly doubt they have the information and time to spring a strong trap. Besides we have big guns in the form of…" I silently nodded towards Grayfia.

"?" Jack didn't get it and I discreetly pointed at the other flying Devil. He looked at her before tilting his head in wonder. Annoyed, I motioned wildly with my hands towards Grayfia. "…What?" Oh for fuc-

"She's strong as hell, okay?! Strongest female Devil from the War Faction remember!? Those Exorcists should be a piece of cake with her help." Jack finally saw the light and he immediately agreed with my assessment. Feeling smug, I crossed my arms and enjoyed the wind hitting my face. None of those Exorcists, not even that strong blonde guy, stood a chance against Grayfia. She was stronger than me by a large margin and I could face their (possibly) strongest fighter to a standstill (granted I barely injured him and the cut in my shoulder was still fresh, but it wasn't that big a gap).

"Don't expect it to go as you think." Grayfia's words shattered the beautiful image I had and she didn't stop. "While I may be an Ultimate Class Devil, it doesn't change the fact that there have been plenty before me that have fallen to human Exorcists. The church trains their forces to face beings far stronger than them and they are equipped to weaken our powers. That's how they have survived for so long even with our great armies; their crosses, Bibles, scriptures, or anything else they have helped level the playing field. That's why Lord Belial was confident in sending you to face them, their holy objects aren't effective against you and you're decently strong too." I blinked at the new information and had only one question.

"So what you're saying is…I still have to work for a living?"

"…Yes, you do." Even Grayfia's constantly professional face changed to a deadpan.

"…God damn it." I sighed and apologized when both Devil's winced. "Man, I was really hoping to kick back and watch you go all Devil on their asses." Grayfia gave a lopsided smile at that.

"You're quite honest aren't you?" She asked and Jack nodded in agreement. "Where's your manly pride?"

"Ha! You're barking up the wrong tree here Grafi." I snorted as Grayfia mouthed 'Grafi?' in wonder. "I don't believe in pride or anything of that masculinity crap." Kicking below the belt? Allowed. Sand in the eye? If there's sand around then I'm flinging it. A group on one? Anytime. Having someone else do your work, even if it's a woman? Give me a lawn chair and pass me a beer. I personally never understood why protagonists treated villains and even psychopaths with respect and honor. Now I would understand if it's to the people close to you and allies but doing that with your enemy, who's not going to do the same for you, sounds incredibly stupid (not to mention the fact that people don't work that way, I sure as hell don't). Both Devils looked at me like what I said was incredibly strange and they are kind of right but I really don't care.

"A large majority of the Devil race would disagree with you." She added with a side smirk.

"Then they can come and say that to my face. I'll live my life the way I want, what others think is the least of my concerns." Grayfia got oddly quiet at my words. She seemed to stew in her thoughts and after a couple of minutes, I looked up at Jack. "Was it something I said?" The Devil just shrugged.

The rest of the flight was done in silence as we flew past multiple mountains and a very large river, reaching the outer regions of the Belial Territory (at least from what Jack knew). None of us had an idea on where the Exorcists were going but we didn't get to reach the end as the Chi Trail branched off in another direction. It was obvious they split up but I couldn't think of any reason why because the second group didn't get far. How did I know this? Because when I activated Chi Vision I could see a large group of human and Devil auras in one direction.

And the Devil auras were vanishing at a very fast rate.

"Over there!" I quickly informed the other 2 of the situation and we flew in the direction, getting an aerial view of a small village. Many buildings were on fire with corpses lying in the rubble and large patches of blood were on the ground. I could see a group of clothed figures attacking the few Devils that survived and they were putting up a decent fight. Jack's face became distorted at the carnage and Grayfia's visage became ice cold. Just as they looked ready to dive bomb the group, I noticed something in the corner of my eye.

A young Devil that looked like he was in his teenage years was running away from 3 cloaked priests. His clothes were torn with burn marks on his arms and he was crying. It wasn't the clean crying either, he had snot all over his face and he looked to be biting down hard on his lips. Even from this height I could faintly hear his scream of pain as one of the priests tossed a dagger and it pierced the Devil's thigh. I watched as he hit the ground and tried to crawl away.

They were closing in on him.

"…Drop me." I said sternly and Jack looked at me like I was crazy.

"W-What do you mean dro-" He quickly saw the scene under them and he hesitated. "Let me get lower." Jack tried to descend but the Exorcists were already closing in on the Devil. We weren't going to make it time that way.

"Jack." I looked up at the Devil and he stared before steeling his features.

Then he let go.

* * *

**20 Minutes Earlier, Town of Dignitas**

Near the town of Dignitas sat a lake and a teenage Devil was frowning as he picked up stones that littered the side. The young Devil was average height with brown hair, a strong build and a face many women would consider "cute". This Devil was called Dean and he just finished leaving his uncle's house after an argument.

"He doesn't get it…" Dean grumbled as he tossed a rock across the water and it skipped dozens of times before sinking to the bottom of the lake. Today marked the anniversary of his father's death and the young Devil spent it with his last living relative, his uncle Shaun. Both his father and Shaun were part of Lord Belial's armies in the Great War with his father making great military accomplishments. While it didn't boost the overall poor performance of the Belial Clan, it was still a source of pride for Dean and he wanted to follow in his father's footsteps. Being personally taught to fight and read by his father at a young age, he eventually died of a fatal disease.

Shaun buried his brother of blood and arms and took his son under his wing. He never undermined the young Devil's passion for adventure and glory but he didn't make an effort to show his support. He personally experienced war and didn't want that for his nephew, who wanted to join the Devil army, so he always gave him advice on other life choices. Being the hot blooded and hard headed young man that he was, Dean was set in his course and wanted to honor his father's name.

"Then honor your father's name by living a full life." Then his uncle sent that his way, leaving Dean speechless and forcing him to retreat in a huff. Shaun used that same line three years in a row and Dean still couldn't think of what to say back. His uncle always said how his father rejected a high ranking position that Lord Belial offered him and chose to raise Dean in the home village of his deceased mother. Dean understood that his father would have been proud of whatever he did but the young Devil wanted to do what his father did.

Even if it wasn't necessary.

"…Why can't there be some big war so I can have a reason to fight." Sighing, Dean had no idea how soon his wish would be granted and tossed another rock. He did this for a long time and it would always calm him down because it was one of the things he used to do with his father. Just talk and toss stones, a pointless but surprisingly soothing pass time. Getting it all out his system, Dean laid down on the grass and enjoyed the soft wind passing through. He could never really stay angry at his uncle and Shaun knew so too, he was just being dramatic. Choosing it was about to time to head back, Dean stood up and patted himself down before walking back. 'I wonder if he still left my soup on the table, I doubt it though. Man I really should have finished it before walking away.' Dean shook his head at his stupidity and quickly frowned when he noticed a problem. He smelled burning and a large amount of smoke was coming from the direction of his village.

Then he heard the screaming.

"!" Dean quickly went into a sprint and covered the distance between him and the screams. He saw many of the buildings in his village burning and people in robes attacking its residents. A mother and daughter pair were being chased by one of the attackers and Dean summoned his spear. As the attacker slashed down on the pair with a Light Sword, Dean jumped in front of them and blocked the sword. The Exorcists didn't expect that but didn't pause as he slashed multiple times at the young Devil but Dean parried them all.

"Hah!" Giving a shout, Dean tripped the Exorcist and as he tried to get up, he sliced his head clean off. Dean commanded the pair to get to the town center and after being thanked, he made his way to other parts of the village. He tried to help any Devils he found along his path and mowed down many Exorcists that came at him. Though this wasn't without cost. "Argh!" Dean grunted in pain as he cut an Exorcist right down the middle but not before the holy soldier nicked him on the side with their Light Sword. The wound sizzled and Dean's demonic energy tried it's best to expel the dense, holy energy. Other Exorcists who saw the Devil's blight immediately started belting him with Angel spells and some started chanting holy mantras.

_**"Fulgur Surge!"**_ Lightning crackled across the surface of Dean's spear and he pointed it at the Exorcists, sending bursts of deadly lightning. Many Exorcists were quickly fried and the ones who were able to put up barriers in time were dealt with by Dean's lightning-like movements. Looking back at the scene of his slaughter, Dean turned around and limped towards the direction of his house, grimacing the whole way. On a normal day, casting the lightning spells his father taught him (which was his signature) would have been easy but the holy energy in his system and the mantras put a large hinder on his manipulation of demonic energy. Thankfully Dean didn't face anymore Exorcists and made it back to his house, opening the door. "Shaun! Shaun, Where are you!? There are Exorcists in town, we need to-" Then he stopped.

He found Shaun. Dozens of Exorcist bodies littered the floor but his uncle was strung up by his arms, hanging there with many large and fatal holy wounds. "Shaun…" He didn't react.

"…Shaun…" Dean didn't notice how feeble his voice sounded and took a painful step towards his relative. He reached out towards him. "U-Uncl-" Then Shaun fell to the ground, splitting into multiple pieces on landing. "Urgh!" Dean covered his mouth and couldn't hold it back as he threw up. He kneeled on the ground, emptying his already empty stomach and cried.

"Another one?" Dean didn't get the chance to mourn as an Exorcists walked into the room with 2 more. He scrambled to get up and weakly pointed his spear at the Exorcists. Moving with speed that Dean should have easily handled, the Exorcists slashed his arm and Dean stumbled back in pain. He grabbed his arm in fear and even the Exorcist found his form pathetic. "Is that all you got? What a waste. Even this piece of scum put up a better fight." The Exorcists kicked a piece of Shaun and he landed right next to Dean. He didn't react.

'W-Why? Why?! Why can't I stop s-shivering!?' Dean couldn't understand why his body refused to do what he wanted. His father always taught him to control his emotions in battle; that fear was something there to tell him that he should always remain cautious and steadfast. That it wasn't something bad. Then why couldn't he move!? Why couldn't he hold his spear properly!? Why-

Then Dean saw the dead eyes of his uncle Shaun and something inside him snapped. He regained control of his body and ran out of his home, crying along the way. He felt sick. He felt useless. He should have stayed and avenged his uncle but he couldn't. It should have been easy but his wounds and grief was overwhelming.

"Arghh!" Dean felt a sharp pain on his thigh and fell to the dirt, seeing a dagger plunged in his leg. The Exorcists walked up to him and Dean tried to crawl away as the Exorcists took out their Light weapons but he wasn't going to make it. Seeing no way out, Dean gritted his teeth and stood up, legs still shivering. He watched the satisfied smiles on the Exorcists and couldn't help himself. "Are you really proud of this!? We've done nothing to any of you yet you butcher us for what!? Because of some sense of sick duty!?" Dean may have wanted to join the army but he felt no fascination with hunting down Angels or Fallen Angels. He didn't care for them and his father taught him that hatred for another faction just because it's the established order is foolish. They found this funny and laughed.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but we enjoy hunting abominations like you, that's all." The Exorcist's smile became even wider after seeing Dean's shocked face. "There's no grand reason, we do it just because." Dean stumbled and fell to his knees after finding out the reason why his uncle was taken from him. Why his life was irreversibly changed and why it would soon end.

Because a bunch of humans just felt like doing it.

"…You're all mad…" Dean said hollowly and one Exorcist lifted his Light Sword in the air, intending to cut down the young Devil. Except he would have, if it wasn't for the whistling.

'Whistling?' Then the Exorcists in front of Dean were crushed by a large block of green ice and he was flung back by the impact. His wounds were aggravated but he barely noticed as he observed the green element with wonder.

"Heads up!" A person yelled out and someone landed a couple of meters away from Dean, picking up dust. Covering his eyes, Dean looked at the new arrival and was shocked to find it was a human. The being human part wasn't what surprised Dean. It was the fact that he was glowing in a silver aura, was wearing an odd outfit, and had a green rabbit on his shoulder.

And that he saved him from a group of fellow humans.

'…What?' Dean had no idea what was going on anymore but he was on guard when the human dusted himself off and looked around. Then his eyes met Dean's.

"…"

"…"

"…What? What is it? Is there something on my face?" The human asked and turned to look at his rabbit. "Is there?" The green rabbit titled its head and observed the man's face before shaking it. "Oh well that's a relief; imagine if I broke something and I ended up looking like Aindrea. Man now that'd be a tragedy." The man shivered at his words and walked up to Dean, grabbing his shoulder.

"What are yo-" Dean tried to resist but stopped when he felt energy fill his body once again and his wounds were healing easier.

"There you go, you're all set." The young man dusted his hands and looked at the block of ice. "They didn't stand a chance did they? It dropped right on them, it must have been instant."

"…They should have suffered." Dean remembered the Exorcists and what happened to his uncle as he gritted his teeth in anger. The man shrugged.

"You're right but we're kind of on a time limit." Dean became confused at the man's words.

"We?" An explosion answered Dean as he saw a beautiful silvered haired woman barrage a group of Exorcist's with dozens of fire spells. Another Devil was maneuvering around the battlefield and using illusions to disorient priests before killing them.

"That we." The man chuckled at Dean's shocked face and cracked his neck. "Well, it was nice meeting you but I need to go and help. Try to get somewhere safe with everyone else okay?" The man walked forward and passed the still prone form of Dean.

"Wait." The young Devil quickly called out and the human looked back. "Who are you?" The man blinked for a second before giving a large smile.

"Why I'm your friendly neighborhood mercenary, Pierce Van Helsing." Then he walked away.

"…What?"

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

'…What the hell was that?' I sweated as I thought back at my stupid self-given title (even Jade was looking at me funny). Honestly, I needed to give myself a mercenary title one day but that may be a bit too much. '…Oh well. It's not like I'll ever meet him again.' Shaking the useless thoughts from my head, I quickly charged in the direction of the chaos and saw Grayfia ripping the priests apart. She blasted them with an endless stream of elemental attacks and Jack was also putting in work.

I leaned back when a Stray Exorcist tried to lop my head off and I instead did that to him. I cut down any Exorcist that came my way and kicked one into the rubble of a destroyed house. I reached Jack, who put multiple opponents to sleep, and slammed down with Sword Fury. A huge crater was left where dozens of Exorcists stood and with my move still active, I swept through another legion of grunts. Blocking a barrage of light spears, Jade froze the spell casters solid and Jack crushed the ice statues to pieces.

"Help!" A Devil was being chased by another group of Exorcists and I Chi Burst to the Devil, grabbing him by his shirt. I pushed him in the direction of Jack and charged at the group, a magic circle stopping me. I smashed it to pieces with a Seismic Fist and swiftly killed the remainder of them. After cutting off the head of the last Stray Exorcist, I breathed out and looked around at the village. Jack and Grayfia were already done with the rest of the villagers standing on the side. I scanned the surroundings with both Chi Vision and Spiritual Energy but I couldn't feel any more hostiles.

"I guess they weren't with this group." I said as I put away my sword. "Is everyone alright?" I asked the Devil villagers but they all gave me looks of fear and distrust. It was eerily quiet as no one spoke and after a minute of no one talking, I did the one thing that could be done. I took a deep breath and…

"Boo!" I yelled that really loud and the villagers actually jumped in fright. They backed up and gave me weird looks as I chuckled.

"…What was that?" Jack deadpanned and I shrugged.

"Just having fun." I walked over to a ridge and could sense the trail of the second group. "Alright here's what we're going to do. One of us, not me, will need to get these people back to Filihel while the other 2 continue following the trail." I was looking at Grayfia because of her whole taking care of all Devils bit earlier but Jack surprisingly stepped forward.

"I'll take them back to town. Miss Grayfia will be of greater help against the Stray Exorcists and I can get them back safely with my magic." I stared at Jack before nodding and he moved to bring the survivors back. After making sure no one was left behind, Jack wished us luck and said that he would meet us soon.

Grayfia and I watched as all the surviving Devils unfurled their wings and followed after Jack (It's kind of bullshit if you think about it. Every Devil comes with wings so the entire race can fly). I turned to the silver haired woman and motioned with my hand.

"Shall we?" Grayfia smiled and walked behind me, wrapping her arms around my waist. Before I could comment on her very soft assets pressing on my back, we took off into the air and she asked which direction. "That way." I pointed east and we flew in that direction.

"…'' We both said nothing as we covered ground (air?) and I resisted the urge to ask if she had some sort of levitation spell she can use on me to avoid this position. I did not want to be on the other side of Sirzechs' Power of Destruction if he ever catches wind of this. 'Then again, Issei showered with her once so he probably wouldn't care…yeah, I really don't get DxD men either. And it's the most powerful beings that have really weird quirks, is that like a requirement or-'

"You're an odd man." Grayfia finally spoke and I blinked.

"What is it with wildly powerful women finding me weird? I know I am but you guys are brutally honest about it."

"…What?"

"Nothing, you want to give your reasons for saying that? They all do." Grayfia stared at me in silence before looking ahead.

"Why didn't you become angry at those people's treatment? You helped save them but they looked at you like you were the reason for their disaster."

"I don't really care. They're not the first ungrateful people that I've saved and they probably won't be the last."

"Probably?" Grayfia raised a brow at that.

"I saved them because I was there. If I could save a stranger then I will but if I can't, then I won't lose sleep over it."

"…That sounds very much like a hero." I snorted at her words.

"I'm not nor will I ever be a hero. I don't hate heroes but I'll never become one. Besides a hero would lose sleep over those he couldn't save."

"But you saved those people in spite of the danger."

"I had to face the Exorcists anyway; the fact that they were attacking the Devils was an unfortunate coincidence."

"…You sound like you're in denial." Even when I couldn't see her face, I could tell Grayfia was smirking.

"Maybe I am but I still don't want to be a hero. Heroes have expectations, they worry about the common man and will do everything they can to protect them."

"But you don't." She said it like a matter of fact then a question.

"Nope." I said popping the p. "My family and friends are my highest priority, everyone else gets 3rd place."

"3rd?"

"My bucket list takes 2nd." I said honestly and Grayfia stayed silent before guffawing.

"You really are ridiculousness."

"And don't you forget it." I smirked and we flew in comfortable silence, eventually reaching an incredibly long river. The river went on for miles and a gate lay in the middle, protected by a legion of Devils.

"They came through here?" I could hear the surprise in Grayfia's voice and frowned.

"What happened? What's through here?" Grayfia was quiet for a second before finally speaking.

"The territory of the Lucifer Clan and the capital of the Underworld, Lucifaad."

"…"

"…"

"…Mother." It's never easy is it?

* * *

And done. Pierce's is closing in on the remaining Exorcists and is about to enter the maw of the Morning Star. I hope you enjoyed it!

Author's note: Now let me explain something before anyone comments about it (and you know who you are). Ajuka, Azazel, and Sirzechs have long explained in canon how the Underworld is protected by a massive barrier, very much like the Greek World. And while it's never discussed in detail, I will put out my theory. I believe every territory owned by one of the 72 clans has its own personal barriers that restricts teleporting and only those with high enough clearance can teleport. For example, Lord Belial can teleport anywhere he wants in his territory and can give access to someone else. Why didn't he give clearance to Pierce then? Because Pierce doesn't know any teleportation spells yet and he's still an unaffiliated human. Same with Grayfia and Jack, except they are actually a part of a faction and it's not a good idea to give another faction your clearance codes. Especially with the Civil War close to happening. So yeah, I cleared that up so if anyone wants to comment on my writing style or decisions in general then go ahead but if anyone complains about the teleporting them I'm going to be pissed!

* * *

Beta: Fanfiction0000


	25. Chapter 24

_**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**_

**Side Note:** I placed this work on Web Novel under the same name. I chose to bring this over there by request of **a-humble-random-reader**. So yeah if you see my work there, then don't worry, no one is stealing it but major thanks to **Raphaim** for defending my story. Good shit brother (being called a filthy trash can by mistake actually made me laugh a little).

**SomeDudeThatReads**: Yeah, I never liked it how they just added Grayfia for no rhyme or reason with no actual build up. Like no one falls in love immediately with someone, affection at first sight is a thing but you don't just give up everything you know for someone you barely met.

**faithful despair:** I can understand how you would feel like that but I will have to respectfully disagree. I mean look at Odin, Apollon, Vidar, Thor, and even Shiva. They're all relatively chill and have no qualms with talking to those weaker than them warmly. Besides, Pierce isn't disrespecting Athena, Amaterasu, or Aphrodite; he just doesn't show the typical etiquette they usually get and if anything, they like that. They have lived for over a thousand years and all they've ever gotten from humans were worship, respect, and homage. Like anyone first getting it, they most likely enjoyed it but a thousand years of the same thing must have gotten dull. I'm not saying you're wrong but what people expect as the "standard" is typically different from reality.

**TheCrownedReaper**: The crossbow is a holy weapon with blessed arrows. Pierce hasn't been fighting creatures of darkness for a while and he'll only use it when he needs the holy advantage.

* * *

**Chapter 24: A Bleeding Heart in Hell**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but imagine if Ichiei created a fanfiction and posted it here, he could say he does. I own the OC's. I, unfortunately, cannot. Damn.

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**2 Hours Later, The Great King's Castle**

Under the ever bright purple sky and in one of the most prosperous regions of the Underworld laid a large city. Surrounded by multiple tall mountains that surpassed Mount Fuji in height with lush supernatural forests on all sides, this piece of land was a beautiful sight for all. Many of the buildings in the city were grandiose with statues littering every corner and countless fierce soldiers patrolled around. Not a single square inch of the city was simple in nature and in the center of it all stood a massive stone castle. Many elite Devils guarded the castle and if a magician were to sense around with their Spiritual Energy then they would find the 50 extremely powerful barriers that intertwined to protect Bael Castle. The inside was even more beautiful with all kinds of facilities for relaxation, to training, to board meetings, and even theater.

Inside one of the rooms sat a male Devil. He was a middle aged looking man with black hair and violet eyes. He was wearing fancy looking noble attire and sat behind a desk, looking through a pile of documents. The man looked bored in a way, his eyes shifted around the pages lazily like it wasn't important.

_Tensions from the War Faction have increased in the last couple of weeks. Moves have been made with the descendants going out for long periods of reprieve with no one knowing where. I fear for the eventual retaliation and wonder if we should commence the Operation?_

It was a simple message that a yes or no could answer and to anyone else this would have seemed like an easy answer. That would be if the "Operation" wasn't to blow the war horns, fully attacking the Pro War Faction and beginning a Great Devil Civil War. Many would pale at being the one who would choose the race altering decision but the man didn't bat an eye as he read. Where was this unrivaled calm and confidence coming from?

Because this Devil had lived since the beginning. He was one of the first Devils to ever be created by Lilith, survived the Great War even with his status and single handedly took command of the entire Devil race after the death of the 4 Satans. The First Bael and the Great King himself, Zekram Bael.

'…I'm hungry.' And he really wasn't fazed. Zekram sighed and leaned back in his chair, thinking back to the last couple months. The old descendants were a pain that Zekram found to be the source of his headaches and more than once did he consider just saying "fuck it" and flipping the switch, finally putting an end to this farce. It was his own experience with war that stopped him from doing that. 'And it would be so easy too…' The Great King sighed once more and pulled out a bottle of wine from his space ring. Being the de facto ruler of the Devil race came with some quality perks.

Being able to declare war against another faction of Devils, plunge the Underworld in a Civil War and effectively changing the entire system with no one questioning it, is such a perk. Unfortunately, Zekram was not that irresponsible and had to think about the well-being of the entirety of the Devil race. That was his priority when the Satans died and that was his priority now.

'Even in death, you continue making my life difficult don't you?' Zekram wryly smiled and lifted a full glass to his now dead creator in arms. The Great King will be the first to admit that Lucifer was not good for Devil kind. He didn't care when it came to thinking about his lesser subjects, got in over his head because of his pride, and his views negatively impacted the Devil race till this day through his descendants. But damn was the Morning Star something else. Even among the other extremely domineering Satans, Lucifer was the one true king and convinced billions of Devils to follow him to wage war against God. Convinced them all to face two other factions with holy powers (their greatest weakness), to continue fighting even when countless had fallen, and after his death, his influence was not fading in the slightest. Zekram truly did respect Lucifer for his capabilities but he was a fool and more importantly, Zekram was tired. Tired of war, tired of fighting for no real gain, and tired of spoiled brats who had no idea of what they were talking about.

"My King?" Zekram opened his eyes and looked over at his servant that entered the room. "They're ready."

"Oh, I didn't realize the time." Zekram got up from his seat and followed the servant down the luxurious halls of the Bael castle. Passing by a couple of war trophies and the room of his son, they eventually reached the exit. Making sure no one was around, Zekram looked at his servant. "Take care of things until I return, it won't be long."

"Yes my king." The servant bowed low and Zekram nodded before waving his hand, a magic circle appearing under him. It shone brightly and a second later, the First Bael was gone.

* * *

**Outskirts of Bael Territory**

Zekram found himself outside a small castle that had no real magnificence to it. Few guards walked around and the walls were barely kept in shape, looking worn down. It was an unremarkable piece of land that few would turn their heads to look at and that was exactly the point. No one would imagine that almost all the Lords of the Anti-War faction were here for a secret meeting. The Great King nonchalantly passed the sleeping guard and entered the front gate, walking to a random door. He opened the door and walked in to see many Clan Heads sitting together, waiting for him. He looked around and raised a brow.

"Where's Kilen?" Zekram did not see the Lord of House Naberius and the Lord of House Amon, Ionald, shrugged.

"He had to call out, something about not being able to make it." Zekram frowned at that news. To call out at the last minute of a secret meeting about the future of the Underworld was very suspicious.

"Let's begin." Nevertheless, things needed to be done and one Lord being absent was not to stop this meeting. Sitting down at the head of the table (where else is he going to sit?), Zekram looked over all the attendees and made the first point clear. "The old descendants are planning something."

"When aren't they?" The Lord of House Barbatos, Crises, said sarcastically then his face became solemn. "Movement has been seen in Lucifaad. Many supporters have entered the city and one of the descendants was also seen moving around, whatever they are doing it's going to happen soon." The room got silent at the new information and Zekram took a moment to process the new information. Things were coming to a head if they so gathered a crowd like that, hesitating would only hurt them. Murmuring started rising from each member and the Great King noticed how the Lord of House Gremory was oddly quiet.

"What is it Zeoticus?" The First Bael discreetly sent his son in law a message and he locked eyes with the worried Gremory. Zekram always had a neutral opinion about his son in law and personally had nothing against Zeoticus…okay that was a lie. He resented him a little but that wasn't because of his loving personality and informality. It was because Venelana chose to take up the Gremory name and give up her chance to become the Bael head. He would have much rather preferred for his daughter to become the Bael Head instead of her brother. Some would call him cold for that but Venelana was smart, powerful, resourceful, was educated, and had an overall broader vision. Her younger brother…wasn't. He was honestly too prideful and jealous for Zekram's tastes. He was prideful too but his son took it to another, shameful, level.

"It's...it's my son's choir." Zeoticus finally said what was on his mind and Zekram raised a brow.

"What about them?"

"They were sent to sing the song of peace at the capital to decrease tensions but if what Crises said is true then…" Zeoticus became even more worried and Zekram stared at him before sighing.

"After this meeting, we can inform your son of our findings and have them picked up." Zeoticus was shocked at the offer.

"R-Really?" This was a secret meeting, meaning anything spoken about would stay between the present parties until it becomes irrelevant. Zekram offering to tell Sirzechs about the situation is very generous.

"Yes, I will personally message your son." Zekram nodded to the now grateful Zeoticus and turned to the other Lords. "Well gentlemen, our decision seems obvious and I believe it to be necessary. For the preservation of Devil kind and betterment of our race as a whole, we need to fight the old descendants. And no, the irony that we need to wage a war to prevent another is not lost on me." That got a couple of chuckles from the Lords. "All in favor?" All present hands were raised and the Great King nodded his head in finality. "Alright then, let's-"

Then the rumbling began.

"!" Zekram looked around in surprise and had to hold on to the table when he felt his energy being drained. Many other Lords were also feeling the weakening effects and Lord Glasya-Labolas, Falbin, covered them all in a dome of protection. The weakening effect diminished and Zekram finally had a moment to realize what it was. 'A powerful Demon Suppressing Barrier.' Frowning, the Great King was reminded of a similar barrier used against him in the Great War and he activated his Power of Destruction.

"_**Magna Kings Macc." **_An orb of destruction with spikes and a chain appeared in Zekram's hand. Taking a wide swing, the entire castle wall was blown to atoms and a cloud of dust rose up. When it cleared, all Zekram could see was a large barrier with holy symbols on it surrounding the castle and the gate completely destroyed. Multiple figures in priest robes stood at attention and a blond haired man was kneeling on the ground, his hands together in prayer.

"For the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I offer the tears of a believer. May your grace reach me and help in the extermination of these plagues. May your…" The blond priest never stopped his ceremony even when Zekram threw a ball of destruction his way and it was blocked by a yellow magic circle. The First Bael frowned as the holy energy seemed to rise as the Exorcist continued chanting and he took out a large claymore. Zekram's eyes widened slightly as he recognized the weapon.

The Holy Sword and sister blade to the Flaming Sword of God, the Sword of Attila. Making multiple appearances in the Great War, Zekram had personally seen the Holy Sword's capabilities and was confused on how much holy energy it was emitting. Like many other Holy Swords, the Sword of Attila was weakened in the war and shouldn't have so much power. The Great King's confusion was quickly cleared up.

The blond Exorcist took out a bottle of glowing water and dripped a couple of drops on the Holy Sword. It absorbed the droplets and shone in a brilliant spectacle of yellow and white. The sword's aura skyrocketed and the holy energy inside became at twice as dense than before.

"The Dew of Saint John…" Zekram was getting surprises left and right today. While seeing the ancient Holy Sword was shocking, seeing the Dew of Saint John was another level of surprise. What was the Dew of Saint John? It was the byproduct of the Sacred Gear, the Holy Baptizer's Gift. Like many Sacred Gears that have spirits within them, either by God's actions or by circumstance (Balor View), the Holy Baptizer's Gift contained a fragment of Saint John the Baptist's soul.

The priest who baptized Jesus Christ. The Sacred Gear chooses humans that contain the Property of Light and it allows them to basically give the light within them liquid form. One of the purest forms of holy energy, anything holy that comes in contact with the liquid increases in power and it can even repair Holy Swords like the Sword of Attila. It was a formidable Sacred Gear that had more than one user and they changed the course of the Great War multiple times, causing the Devils to destroy all of the Holy Baptizer's Gifts.

Guess they missed one.

'…This is not a coincidence.' Zekram frowned as the blond Exorcist stepped forward to face the Devil Lords and the rest of the other Exorcists took out their own holy weapons; they were also brimming with holy energy. For a bunch of Stray Exorcists to make it from Lord Belial's territory to here, on the day of the secret meeting was too suspicious to be a fluke.

"Someone told them about this." Lord Agares, Sevier, gave his piece on the situation and stood next to the First Bael. Zekram nodded and watched as the Exorcists slowly walked up to the Lords.

"My name is Ethan Cristaldi, we are Stray Exorcists and have come for one purpose." Zekram couldn't help but admire the man's choice of wording.

'At least he knows what to say to avoid larger repercussions.' If Ethan was to say he was still with the church, then that would be a blatant act of war from the Angel faction, effectively restarting tensions by both factions (granted, enmity never lowered between Angels and Devils but it would rise back to how it was in the Great War). What he said next did not amuse Zekram however.

"We have come to rid the world of its greatest scourge and the one who keeps that scourge afloat." Ethan pointed his Holy Sword at Zekram, along with the rest of his subordinates. "The Devil race should have ended when the Holy Father destroyed your Satans but they were wrong. They forgot one vital leader, you." Ethan drank a bottle of the Dew and holy energy started rising from inside his body, becoming brighter every second. Even for a natural born Holy Sword user like Ethan, the increase in holy energy seemed to sear his flesh from the inside but he ignored it. "We have come to finish what Heaven could not. Today is the day you die and the day we finally bring peace to all worlds. It is God's Will!"

"For God's Will!" The rest of the Exorcists chanted and drank their own bottles of Dew, holy power radiating from their bodies as well. The silence was deafening as Lord Bael stared blankly at the group of Exorcists, who invaded the Underworld just to assassinate him.

"…Brats." That was all Zekram said as his demonic power rose. He felt annoyed. "…Fucking brats." He felt insulted. "You're all mother fucking brats!" And most importantly…he was done dealing with snot nosed brats.

The rest of the Lords present were shocked at the normally calm Zekram's outburst and they stepped back when his Power of Destruction radiated out in a visible wave. The holy barrier shook under the First Bael's power and the Exorcists stumbled back in fear, Ethan didn't flinch at Zekram's glare.

"200 years…" Ethan raised a brow at that. "For 200 years I've kept the Underworld in peace. I've toiled to make it so that the remaining Devils could live on. I've made sacrifices!" Zekram's power rose to the point that the other Ultimate Class Devils present started to sweat. "Yet you all keep making a mess of everything! Those idiotic descendants, you worthless Exorcists, even that ridiculous war crow, you just can't just let things be! You can't just accept this peace and quiet! War this, war that, is that all you fools can think of!? We fought for over a thousand years and we've proven nothing! Gained nothing! For fuck's sake why is that so hard for any of you to understand!?" Zekram stopped to take a couple of deep breaths before chuckling. "And do you know the funniest part?"

"…What?" Ethan couldn't stop himself and asked.

"That you honestly think you can kill me. _**Primum est rex exstinctio eventus est scriptor."**_ Zekram's Power of Destruction wrapped around him, morphing into a black and red armor. A crown made of destruction appeared on his head and he conjured a large magic circle. A 10 meter tall monster walked out of the circle. It had two heads, a cat and toad respectively, and it had a dog's body covered in thick brown hair. It stood tall next to Zekram and the Great King pointed his spear at Ethan. "I have survived the Great War, I've survived the Seraphs, I have survived your "almighty" God!...And I will survive you." Zekram's aura suppressed the other Exorcists and only Ethan was the only one left standing, ready to fight. "Now let's get this over with. I'm still hungry." Ethan lunged forward with his Holy Sword and Zekram faced it head on.

The collision between Holy and Demonic powers could be seen for miles with the already demolished castle being flattened further.

This was the start of a hectic day for the Underworld.

* * *

**Lucifaad**

When people say that Lucifaad was the capital and central point of the Underworld, they mean that literally. A nexus point that leads to every other territory in the Underworld and the place where Lilith created every Devil of the 72 Pillars; this city was where the Devil kind began. Lucifer built this city himself and made it his base of operations during the war. His descendants occupying it after his death.

That was until Rizevim Livan Lucifer got bored of it. The self indulgent Super Devil wanted to go somewhere "new" and "exciting", so he left his ancestral home. While he didn't force the rest of his clan to leave with him (more like he didn't care enough to), Rizevim was the direct son of Lucifer and the strongest Devil in the Underworld. The Lucifer Clan didn't want to leave him alone for too long and made their new base where Rizevim was. An exotic region of the Underworld that was known for its beauty and hedonistic spots.

And was a couple thousand miles away from the Devil capital.

'Thank every God and Goddess in DxD for that.' I gratefully thought as I walked with Grayfia down the main street of Lucifaad. It was only thanks to Grayfia explaining the current location of Rizevim and double checking with Jack through my communication ring (it was common knowledge apparently) that I willingly followed the silver haired Devil into Lucifaad. No reward was worth getting anywhere near that psychotic, apocalypse bringing Super Devil. So after using Grayfia's authority to get through the protection barrier, we made our way to the capital and looked around for any evidence of the Stray Exorcists.

We didn't find any.

"Well that was anticlimactic." I said as I ate rice and some weird looking chicken from a restaurant we found (I give it a 6/10). Grayfia was busy looking through a magic book, trying to find any reports of holy related incidents in the past 24 hours. The Chi Trail said they went through the gate yet it disappeared the moment we got to the other side. We figured that they would attack Lucifaad but the city was perfectly intact and no one had seen any crazy Exorcists. So either they went somewhere else, left the Underworld, or were wiped out by a strong Devil. "…Yeah, I can live with that."

"What?" Grayfia looked at me in question.

"It's been 3 hours and no reports have come back of an Exorcist attack. We could wait a bit more but with the roll they were on earlier, I doubt they just up and stopped attacking for no reason." I gave my reasoning and Grayfia thought on it before shaking her head.

"We should still wait and see if anything comes up. I can't stop searching for them on a hunch, especially now that they're in the Lucifer Clan's territory." I shrugged and went back to eating my meal. I didn't have a problem with sticking around a bit longer, the Exorcists were out of the Belial's territory and I killed a bunch of them before getting here. I should already be able to cash in that reward and I could explore Lucifaad until they showed up. It was a win-win for me either way. Though I did have one question.

"Why are we wearing cloaks?" I asked because Grayfia gave me a cloak to wear earlier and she had one on as well.

"I'm…technically not allowed to be here." Grayfia said this bashfully while scratching the back of her head.

"What do you mean technically?" I frowned and asked.

"My masters didn't explicitly tell me not to come here but they did give me the day off to go meet a friend. They seemed pretty adamant on me leaving too."

'…Well that's suspicious.' Considering what I've remembered, the old descendants were dicks and did not care for things like friendships. Yet they gave their strongest combatant the day off to go meet a friend and even supported it? That's very suspicious. "So how come you came to help us?"

"I was on my way to my friend's house before my masters called me and informed me about Lord Belial's defection. I didn't have a choice at that point." Grayfia gave a bitter smile and I felt a little guilty.

"Oh…sorry about your day off being ruined." Grayfia quirked a brow at that.

"What are you sorry for?"

"No reason, it's just something you say." I lowered my head and continued eating. I wasn't about to tell her it was me who gave Lord Belial the letter that made him defect. She probably wouldn't care but it never hurts to be safe. "Though if subtlety was what you were going for then cloaks were not that way to go."

"What do you mean?"

"…Really?" I deadpanned and seeing her confused face, pointed to the left. She turned her head and saw the majority of the Devils on the street giving them odd, passing looks. Lucifaad was in a perpetual warm climate with the most seen clothing either light dresses (the women) or short sleeves (the men). Grayfia and I, in our thick, black cloaks stood out like sore thumbs. '…You know I never understood that phrase. Are sore thumbs that noticeable? Or is it just because the thumb is such a sensitive finger that you notice when it's sore?' While my mind wandered on the (stupid) topic, Grayfia saw my point and blinked.

"O-Oh, I didn't notice." She lowered her head and blushed. "I've been told that black cloaks are the main equipment for sneaking around."

"Who told you that?"

"My friend."

"...And you didn't question why they knew what you needed to wear to sneak around?" I made an amused smile and Grayfia shrugged innocently.

"She's a little weird so I didn't ask. Just seemed like something she would know."

"…We'll come back to that later." I shook my head and took off my cloak, Grayfia doing the same shortly after. Standing up, I tilted my head in the direction of the city center. "Come on, let's explore. I've never been here before and having a personal guide sounds great."

"Um…" I stopped at Grayfia's "um" and turned around to find her scratching her cheek. "I've…never actually explored the city before."

"Really? How come?"

"I've never been given that kind of free time before. I've always had to be close to my masters whenever they wanted something and did lots of errands for them. I was born here but I've never been able to really explore it." Grayfia sighed at that and I gave her a strange look.

"Hey Grayfia, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." She stared at me for a second before giving a silent nod. "You probably have your reasons but…why do you follow the Lucifer Clan?" I never understood the silver haired Devil's reason for following them. I mean at the end of the Civil War she defected from the Old Satan Faction and joined the Anti Satan side. She obviously has no problem leaving them but Grayfia herself said she didn't agree with the Lucifer Clan's views. I get the leaving for love but I thought that was because Sirzechs changed her world views and taught her about family and compassion. Yet here she is, already having a kind heart and disposition, the reason for defecting so late didn't make sense. Grayfia hesitated for a second before speaking.

"Because that's what I was born for. I was born to serve the Lucifers; anything they needed, I was to provide and if I were to fight or lay down my life for them…then so be it. My parents raised me and my brother to follow this one principle. It's all I know." Grayfia's voice became hollow near the end of her confession and I could see her unwillingness to follow those teachings.

I get it. It makes sense how even when she wanted nothing to do with war she still stepped on the front lines to face the Anti Satan Faction. No matter how strong you become, where you came from molds you in ways that's very difficult to overcome. That works both ways actually. A guy who's known hate, pain, and misery will most likely grow up to be a psychopath. Just like how someone who was shown love, understanding, and support all their life will mostly likely become a kind person. I say most likely because there are always outliers.

Grayfia was one of those outliers. She grew up around nobility, deceit, anger, and arrogance but she somehow kept a little part of herself that became understanding and open minded. But even the strongest woman or man will be molded to what they were raised to be, even when they don't want to.

'…And it took a great civil war to finally help her break that mold.' I sighed, finding the psychological moment tiring, before bowing and reaching out with my hand dramatically. She stared at me in confusion. "Well my lady that just can't do. Will you come with me on a lovely stroll through your home land while we talk about the weather, tea, and the economy?" I tried to say in the most snobbish voice I could and Grayfia gave me a weird look.

"…What are you doing?"

"I'm being a high class douche…did I do it wrong?"

"…Why?"

"Well since you grew up around that I thought we can walk around doing stupid stuff while we talk shit about everything you hate about your job. What do you say?" I shrugged and offered, leaving Grayfia in complete bewilderment. Nothing was said as we stared at each other before a Grayfia gave a small smile.

"You really are weird, you know that?" I snorted.

"Tell me something I don't know." Giving a small chuckle, Grayfia stood up.

"Then what are we waiting for?" She walked past me and down the road. Maybe I was seeing things but she definitely added a small sway to her hips as she went. The fact that a lot of other male (and some female) Devils stared as the beautiful silver haired left the area proved my suspicions. Ridding my head of the thought, I caught up with Grayfia and selectively ignored the side smirk she gave me. She knew I was staring.

'Down boy. You have an awesome and beautiful girlfriend who likes you very much…and has hinted she was fine with a polygamous relationship…you know, at this point being reincarnated is starting to be the least weirdest thing I've had to deal with.' Reviewing the abnormality that was my life once again, I walked down the street with the silver haired Devil.

* * *

**Center of Lucifaad, Lucifer Castle**

A large and grand looking castle sat at the center of the Devil capital. Being the original home of the Morning Star, it was naturally protected by high level barriers that were on par with the Great King's castle and elite soldiers patrolled the grounds. Granted, the number of soldiers were severely lacking compared to a couple of years ago because of the Lucifer Clan's relocation, it was still kept in tip top shape. The Lucifer Clan typically kept an ambassador here to oversee the city and keep order. The current ambassador, Mulen Lucifer, was a low ranking member of the Lucifer Clan that had no real authority but that did not stop him from doing his job competently. Especially for today.

"Is everything ready?" Mulen turned to the teenage Devil that was looking out of the window at the city. He was tall, had long brown hair that reached his shoulder blades and he was handsome.

"Everything should be in place. The men are meeting with the leaders around the city and we still have to wait for the afternoon." Mulen said and the Devil nodded in response before turning to look at the ambassador.

"And the kids?"

"…We have them in the prison but are you sure we shoul-"

"It's none of your concern if they're necessary. Just have them ready for the announcement." The Devil coldly cut off the lesser ranked ambassador and he just stared before lightly bowing.

"Very well, I should be off to make some last minute arrangements. I will see you later Young Master Tylin." Mulen made his exit and left Tylin alone to stew in his thoughts. He looked out into the streets, watching the multitude of ordinary Devils going about their everyday lives, not knowing what was about to happen.

'As they deserve.' Tylin thought derivatively as he watched a group of orphans walking with their matron. Low class Devils with no drive for power or authority are the worst kind of Devils in Tylin's eyes. Coming from the noble Leviathan Clan, he was taught that Devils should always strive for anything they wanted and that a true Devil will fight for the domination of everything. He was told Devils were the greatest race in the world not because of their powers or their heritage, but because Devils were free. They reveled in sin and that put them far above the rest of the morally aligned world. Devils did what they wanted when they wanted and that mentality sparked one of the greatest wars the supernatural world has ever seen. The Satans died but the descendants still held that belief close to their chests and wanted to continue that glorious dream.

And the first step to fulfilling that dream will commence today.

"S-Sir…" Tylin turned to look at one of his subordinates that he sent out to watch for any irregular activity. He was sweating and jittering, like he did something wrong.

"What?" The Leviathan descendant asked, annoyed that the subordinate entered without permission. His annoyance became greater when the subordinate took an unnecessarily long pause before answering.

"U-umm, we may have a p-problem." Tylin frowned at that.

"What is it?" How big is the issue that his subordinate personally needed to come tell him about it? This was a day of great importance and the descendants covered all their bases well. What could possibly derail-

"L-Lady Grayfia is in L-Lucifaad."

"…"

"…"

"…Oh."

* * *

**2 Hours Later, Back to Pierce**

After getting advice and directions from passing Devils, we made our way around the Devil capital. Lucifer may have been a crazy, world conquering asshole but man did the guy have good taste in architecture. Countless buildings of different sizes and odd forms littered the city with space magic made to warp the insides. Grayfia and I visited many stores in the city with Grayfia falling in love with a store that sold only maid outfits (from a variety of cultures). Why that's a thing I have no idea.

'Actually, that may be why she likes maid outfits so much in the future.' She probably found this store and became enamored with the trend.

"…They also need to have a good reading on people so they can always know how their masters feel and attend to them properly. They need the patience to learn and study the habits of their masters to always keep them in a good mood. Additionally, maids are known for being around for countless millennia. They go by different names like handmaidens to Au Pair to even wet nurses but they are all the same thing in the end. People believe that they are a new current thing but maids predate even Devil kind! With ancient Gods and kings naturally having a form of maid to cater to them. Furthermore…" Oh yeah, Grayfia's been going on for the last 20 minutes on her strange fetish on maids. I shook my head in amusement as the silver haired Devil went on and on about her odd passion.

"You really like maids huh?" I asked rhetorically and Grayfia stopped her rant to lightly blush.

"Sorry, was I talking too much?"

"Nah, I just find it weird how a noble seems so interested in a low class job like a maid…okay, I know how dickish that sounded but you get what I mean." Grayfia's fixation with maids was one of the many questions I had on DxD lore. That and how a Seraph like Gabriel who has lived for over a thousand years, has participated in the Great War, and is one of the leaders of the Angel Faction was clueless on Issei's perverted nature. 'Ichiei was definitely high when he made that scene.'

"It's just something I've always found impressive. I was mainly raised by my parent's maid and she taught me all I knew today." Grayfia made a fond smile as she remembered her parent figure.

"…Where is she now?" I asked after a second, hoping I wasn't stepping on a landmine (don't want a repeat of the Maven's parent's question).

"She's with my brother in the Lucifuge estate." Thankfully it was nothing like that and Grayfia answered. Sighing in relief, we continued our adventure around the city, finding an ice cream store, a weapon's store (I didn't find anything interesting like a Demon Sword but there were some sharp daggers I bought for Melissa) and we found a statue dedicated to the Original Lucifer himself.

'So that's how he looked like.' I stared at the large, gold statue in fascination. Vali sure did look like his ancestor, I'll give him that. Long wavy hair with a built frame, strong handsome features and he had piercing eyes. '…How the hell did they get his eyes to look like that on a statue? Definitely some sort of magic.' I marveled at the sculpture before I felt a shift behind us and I turned to look at Grayfia. She nodded back.

"Let's go." The silver haired Devil walked to a nearby ally and I followed, the auras I felt earlier scrambled after us. Just as we got out of sight, I channeled Chi into my legs and hopped high into the air. I sank my fingers into the brick of the tall building and held myself high in place, looking down. Two Devils walked into the ally and looked around but couldn't find either one of us.

"Where the hell did they go!?" Devil number 1 said as he walked further into the alley.

"Are you sure they came in here?" Devil number 2 asked in hesitation.

"Of course I did! What kind of question is that? You also saw them comin-" Devil number 1 stopped and looked up, seeing me high up on the wall. I smiled and lightly waved. Not giving him a chance to react, I Chi Burst to the ground and slammed Devil number 2's head into the ground. Cracks appeared on the concrete and the Devil was swiftly knocked out. Devil number 1 stumbled back in surprise and conjured a magic circle; a blade of water flew out at me. Tilting my head, the water blade harmless passed by and I punched the Devil in the face. "Arghhh!" He flew back, landing on his back with his nose bleeding heavily and a dazed look in his eyes. I got to his side in a second and placed my foot on his chest, keeping his place. "W-Wait! This isn't what you think this is!"

"Okay then, explain." I crossed my arms and stared down at the struggling Devil.

"I-I just wanted to know if you had any questions about Lord Lucif-"

"Oh yeah, I also have the power to tell when someone's lying. Just thought you should know that." I smirked when the Devil stiffened at that and got real quiet. This Devil wasn't a Chi user and if he was, then he wasn't a very good one. His aura said he was lying when he offered to answer any questions I had on the Morning Star and his disdain at me for being human was clear as day. Seeing him not responding, I started pressing harder on his chest and he resumed his fruitless struggle. "Getting harder to breathe?"

"W-Wait…I can…explain…this." His face got redder as time passed and I lifted my foot once he started turning purple. He took in deep gulps of air before glaring at me. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh I am not in the mood to deal with this." Grabbing him by his shirt, I slammed him against the wall and punched him on the mouth. He bled from his lip and I punched him in the ribs, hearing a faint pop. He dropped to his knees in agony and hauled him up once more, forcing him to look me in the eye. "Now listen very carefully. I don't know who you are, I don't care who you are and I don't give a backward flying rat's ass about who you work for. Now you can go on a long villain's speech about how low and pathetic I am compared to the almighty master you serve, forcing me to rip your head off and shove it up your ass. Or you can just tell me what you want so you can crawl back to whatever hole you came out of. Choose." The Devil stared at me in fear but I didn't care. Whatever this Devil wanted wasn't good and I wasn't about to tempt fate in the Underworld; I needed to know if they were just some stupid guys who wanted to steal from me or if it was something bigger.

"W-We're here for L-Lady Grayfia." The Devil confessed his reason for being here and I frowned.

"What do you want with me?" Grayfia chose this moment to put down her invisibility spell and glanced at the Devil in suspicion. He looked like he found his savior.

"L-Lady Grayfia! Thank Maou, help me! This human has gone mad-" Grayfia lifted her hand to stop the Devil from continuing and spoke.

"I do not like to be followed nor commanded. You chose to trail us and he has every right to treat you like this." Grayfia's cold words stunned the Devil. "Who sent you?"

"…" The Devil stood silent for a minute and just as I was about to force him to continue, he reached into his shirt. We watched him in caution as he took out a silver engraved ring and Grayfia went rigid.

"What?" I asked, confused about her reaction but she didn't answer and stared at the piece of jewelry.

"Where did you get that?" Grayfia glared at the man and he seemed to gain a second wind, grinning in triumph (though all the blood on his face ruined it).

"I was ordered by the Lucifer ambassador to give you a message."

"…What message?"

"Do not interfere no matter what." The Devil said this with finality in his voice and turned to look at me. "Unhand me." He said this in a haughty tone. My lips warped in amusement.

"Sure…but was that all?" The Devil frowned at the question.

"What? Yes! That was all now let me-" I slammed my fist against his temple and promptly knocked him out, his body falling to the dirty alley floor. Grayfia didn't react; instead she knelt down and grabbed the ring, looking it over multiple times. By her frown I could tell she was not happy.

"We need to go." Grayfia said this and started walking out of the alley. While confused, I followed after the silver haired Devil and we rushed through the city.

"You mind telling me where we're going?" I asked as I poured Chi into my legs to keep up with the now running Grayfia. She didn't say anything as we blurred through Lucifaad and eventually stopped in front of what looked like an inn. She entered and made her way to the front desk. The female receptionist looked up and seemed surprised by Grayfia's arrival (either surprised by her beauty or if she recognized Grayfia is beyond me).

"C-Can I help-"

"Where is the Gremory party's room?" Grayfia demanded and the receptionist hesitated.

"Umm, we can't give out that kind of information without proper authori-"

"Grayfia Lucifuge, direct heir of the Lucifuge House and the Lucifer Clan's representative."

"…Oh." The receptionist's eyes widened and started sweating before stuttering out a quick "R-Room 31". Grayfia gave a small thanks before walking upstairs and I smiled apologetically to the receptionist. I mean Grayfia could have just forced her way through but she didn't want to throw her weight around more than she needed to. We eventually reached room 31 and Grayfia didn't bother knocking, opening the door straight away. It was a normal high class room. There were two large queen sized beds with an adjacent door that led to a large living room and a fireplace. It was quite nice.

"Shit." Grayfia seemed to disagree though.

"What is it?" I watched as Grayfia looked around the room, trying to find something before turning back to me.

"Can you sense anything? Anything at all?" I narrowed my eyes at the desperation in her tone but relented and scanned the room with Chi Vision. I could send multiple Chi Signatures in the room and most of them seemed to belong to young Devils. One of these signatures led out into the bustling street but it was fading, their signatures were being slowly covered up by the passing citizen's.

"Follow me." I didn't waste time and opened the window to the outside, hopping out. Grayfia landed next to me and I followed the trail through the city. Whoever Grayfia was looking for, they were with other older Devils and they took a roundabout way through the city (mainly through the alleys and darker regions). I lost the trail after a couple of miles and frowned. "That's a first. I'm sorry; this is where the trail ends." We scoured the area but there was nothing to pinpoint where the group went.

"Damn it!" Grayfia became visibly distraught and I had to ask.

"_Now_ can you tell me what's going on?" I asked as nicely as I could and Grayfia stared at me for a second before sighing.

"Do you know who Sirzechs Gremory is?" Do I know the soon to be Super Devil turned Lucifer and big brother to the girl who will make the main protagonist of DxD her bitch?

"…I've heard of him."

"Well then you should know that he's a kind of a pacifist and a hopeless optimist." Grayfia said that but there was no bite in her voice. "He made a choir of Devil children from his home city and sent them here to sing the song of peace but…"

"…They were still supposed to be in their room, weren't they?" Grayfia grimly nodded at my guess.

"They are to perform in the afternoon and Sirzechs gave explicit orders not to leave the inn until then." Grayfia started pacing; trying to figure out what could have happened and I tried to calm her down.

"Okay look, let's not jump to conclusions. They either teleported out of the city, unlikely but possible, or the amount of people walking around here covered up their trail." We were in some kind of market and it was pretty busy, the odds that the trail was just walked over till it faded was high. "We shouldn't assume the worst, okay?" That seemed to calm her down since she took a deep breath and nodded. "Good. Now, let's ask around if anyone saw anything."

So we asked around to every Devil that ran a stand and Grayfia took out a picture of the kids. It reminded me of those elementary school things where a professional comes in one day and takes a class picture (it even had Sirzechs on the side, like where a teacher would usually be). Sadly, no Devil vendor recognized the kids and Grayfia became increasingly worried until we showed a fruit seller the picture. He leaned in to take a closer look before nodding.

"Yeah, I've seen that kid."

"Really? Which one?" I brought the picture closer and the Devil pointed at a small boy with short blond hair.

"I saw him earlier around…9? That's when I put up my stand so yeah." I made a confused face.

"Uhhh…this is completely unrelated but how do you guys keep track of time here? I mean there's no day or night cycle so how-"

"Pierce." Grayfia deadpanned.

"Sorry." I smiled in apology and pointed at the kid that the vendor saw. "Was he alone? Did he look hurt or frantic?" The Devil vendor rubbed his chin in thought before nodding.

"Yeah, I mean he wasn't hurt but he did rush into the area with this scared look on his face and ran into that alley over there. A group of guys entered after him." The vendor pointed at an alley across the street and thanking him for his help, we made our way over. I could immediately feel a young Devil's signature in the area (probably because it looked abandoned so no one came through here) along with a couple others but it was abruptly cut off. Not faded, cut off.

"Grayfia, we may have a problem."

"What?"

"Whoever was following the kid has some sort of connection with the Lucifer Clan." To be able to freely teleport within the capital of the Underworld, the assailants must have been given permission by a member of the Lucifer Clan. 'Or some really powerful beings that can bypass the barriers kidnapped them…actually that's not any better.' I grimaced at the thought and Grayfia sensed around with her more powerful Spiritual Energy, finding traces of Space Magic in the area. Teleportation guess for the win.

"You can't track where they teleported to or something?"

"That's not how that works." Grayfia shook her head. "When you teleport, you create a tunnel in space that you open to another location and that's why most people set markers to where they want to go undetected, it's like a pre-prepared entrance. Lesson number 1 is how to collapse the tunnel behind you on every jump."

"Ah…good to know." I crossed my arms and tilted my head in thought. 'I guess that explains why whenever an enemy uses teleportation magic to escape they never follow after them; they can't.' I watched as Grayfia started to pace, trying to figure out who would do this but was coming up blank.

"…What should we do?" Grayfia asked in uncertainty and my communication ring rang at that moment. I lifted my hand and saw that it was a message from Jack, he made it to Lucifaad. Messaging him to meet them at the inn we were at, I turned to the worried Grayfia.

'It's weird seeing her like this when in the Light Novel and anime she was so unfazed by everything.' Guess it goes to show, having mountain busting, sea surging power does not solve all your problems. '…Someone should really tell all the edge lords in the world that.' I told Grayfia about going back to meet Jack and she agreed that three heads were better than two.

Making our way back to the inn, Grayfia started messing with her bracelet and seeing her so concentrated, I chose to leave her alone. I looked around, trying to keep myself entertained as we walked and I noticed something. Devils in strange outfits that had silver linings and a sigil on their right breast were starting to become more common. They walked together in groups and I could see them herding some groups of Devils off to somewhere else. One even locked eyes with me and took a step forward before seeing Grayfia. He quickly backed off then. I frowned at the scene and activated Chi Vision. I turned back on the emotion sensing aspect and I had to hold back a wince at what I was seeing.

Malice was high in the air. Very high. Every Devil that wore those uniforms seemed to be filled with a blend of passion and hate. An odd combination but it seemed like the groups that were being taken away also shared that sentiment. I channeled some Chi into my ears to listen in on some groups being talked to by the uniformed Devils but each one had a soundproofing barrier around them.

'What is going on?' As we got closer to the inn, more and more Devils that had the same feelings as those uniformed Devil's increased. It was like a plague. Some stores even closed down and the owners made their way to the center of the city. Grayfia eventually looked up from her bracler and she had a frown on her face.

"I can't get into the Intelligence Hud." I tilted my head in confusion.

"What is that?"

"It's a magic channel where the Lucifer Clan gives out orders to every officer under them." Grayfia explained and I was a bit impressed. It made sense; a communication ring is a thing so having a magic page where your employees can see their orders saves way more time than personally calling them. But…

"What do you mean you can't get in? Aren't you pretty important?"

"I can contact my masters in the Lucifer Clan but any information about what's going on in Lucifaad is unreachable. I'm locked out." Grayfia noticed the odd atmosphere in Lucifaad and tried to get answers but wasn't successful.

"…Okay, let's pick up the pace." I did not like the sound of that and activated Touki, picking up Grayfia (she can't fly in the city without drawing suspicion and I was overall faster than her on foot). Leaving two footprints on the concrete, I blazed through the city and picked up a fierce wind as I reached the inn in under a minute. Jack was already there.

"Hey what's-"

"Not here." I grabbed Jack by his shoulder and pulled them both up to the choir's previous room. Locking the door, I looked out the window and saw that no one followed us. Sensing around just to be safe, I turned to face the 2 other Devils. "So to recap, the Stray Exorcists who made it pass the gates can't be found. Grayfia, an ultra strong Ultimate-Class Devil and the literal strong man of the Lucifer Clan is locked out of her information network. And…we may have a case of lost Devil children that should be here and safe but aren't. Did I miss anything?" Jack said nothing as he blankly stared at Grayfia shaking her head and after a minute, he sighed.

"I was gone for a couple of hours…" Jack rubbed his face and I shrugged.

"Welcome to my life. Now, you guys have any ideas?" They both shook her head. "Well that's fine, because I do." I rubbed my space ring and my chalkboard came out in the room, chalk in hand. I wrote down the title. "I call it: When in Doubt, Get the Fuck Out."

"…Did you really have to take out the chalkboard for that?" Jack deadpanned.

"Never underestimate the chalkboard." I warned Jack and he scoffed. "There will be 2 teams for this operation. Team number 1 is Grayfia and I; we're going to ask around and try to find those kids, forcefully if we need to. Once we get them, we are to get the hell out of dodge." Grayfia nodded in agreement. "Jack, you're team 2. Try to get information on what's going on, follow the Devils wearing those outfits and message us if anything happens. Something's going on and if shit gets bad then I want a heads up." Jack nodded and we quickly got to work. We gave Jack a copy of the picture and we split off. I headed off with Grayfia to the last place we got the trail.

* * *

**1 Hour Later**

While she couldn't trace where the assailant took the kid, she did know of a couple locations in the city that were used by the Lucifer Clan to cage their enemies (I did not want to ask what they did to the prisoners). Sadly that wasn't it as every location we went to had no prisoners and even the soldiers usually stationed there weren't around. Then we tried to find that fruit vendor once more to get information but the entire market was gone, all the stands were smashed. Things only got worse from there because we found multiple stores destroyed and houses that were on fire. Grayfia quickly sent a water spell to those burning houses and we found families that were trapped inside. Healing them and sending them to the city gates, we kept moving through the city. Grayfia wanted to know where the soldiers that protected the city were but they were nowhere to be seen.

But things kept escalating. More houses burned with those soldiers in silver outfits cutting off access to certain sections of the city and people moving in waves towards the center of the city. Of course to Grayfia, there wasn't anywhere she couldn't go in Lucifaad and used that authority to get past the soldiers. We got to helping putting out the fires and saving the normal Devils from the burning houses. I didn't understand how fire was a danger to the Devil citizens who had magic but I quickly found out why.

'What is this?' I frowned and picked up a burnt holy relic, my Chi coated hand protecting me from being burned. It was a cross with beads and glowing sigils etched on it. Grayfia was walking back to me after stopping another fire and frowned at the relic.

"Demon's Bane."

"What is that?"

"It's used by priests to protect a house from demonic beings. It can also be used to trap Devils inside a home." The silver haired Devil waved her hand and the relic in my hand was splintered to pieces. "Are the Stray Priest's here?"

"I don't know. I doubt it though, it seems like this is being done by those silver Devils. We're missing something." I fell into deep thought and Grayfia looked around with narrowed eyes. Something was going on and we were still nowhere close to finding the kids. Grayfia didn't recognize the symbol the silver Devils wore and they actively avoided the silver haired Devil. Like they were ordered to. None of the Devil citizens we saved knew anything and the ones going to the city center didn't give anything either. Mainly saying how it was "time for the true kings to rise" or "Back to ancient glory". 'Great, old timey supernatural propaganda. It's as cryptic as the modern version when you don't get it!'

"Pierce." I looked down at my communication ring and brought it up to my face.

"You got something? Because we're running around blind here." I answered Jack and heard his sigh.

"Sorry but I'm not doing any better. Whatever is happening, the silver outfits don't know much about it either. They just have explicit orders to gather supporters of the Pro-War faction to the center of the city and attack those that were staying behind. They were also given holy relics to use." Jack explained his findings and the frown on my face became even deeper.

"…Okay." I made up my mind. "Jack follow the people, Grayfia and I are heading over now."

"Roger." Jack gave confirmation and I looked over to a confused Grayfia.

"Whatever's happening, the answer is where everyone's going. What are the odds the kids disappeared and the city goes to hell? And no that was not a pun." I answered Grayfia's confusion and she nodded in agreement. We made our way through the city, seeing the increased amount of destruction and silver outfits grow in frequency. We eventually reached the massive castle I saw when I first arrived, this time with a large crowd of Devils gathered in front of it. A large platform was resting in the center.

"Hey!" I looked over and saw Jack jugging towards us, I nodded at him.

"Hey. Have you found anything since coming here?" Jack shook his head. "Damn it…"

"I don't know what's going on but it appears to be some sort of announcement. Guess we just have to wait." I frowned at that.

"How long do we need to-" A loud gong rang out, cutting me off and the rest of the chatter in the center also stopped. Then a young Devil wearing noble clothes walked up on the platform. He looked around at the gathered Devils and spoke.

"...Pathetic." The silence in the venue was deafening.

* * *

Tylin Leviathan looked out at the supporters of the Pro War faction and was not pleased. He made that real clear by his facial expression and the gathered Devils started getting riled up at his word. "Silence!" Using magic to project his voice across the center, all the Devils complied and silence reigned once more. Tylin humphed. "Good. Now can someone tell me why I'm wrong?" He waited for a second before a tall Devil with brown hair stepped forward. Tylin tilted his head at the Devil, waiting for his response.

"You're wrong." The Devil glared up at the Leviathan descendant.

"And why is that?"

"Because we're Devils! We served the Satans in the Great War against the Fallen and Pure Angels! We've proven our place! What gives you the right to call us pathetic!?" The retired war Devil exclaimed in anger, his words motivating the rest of the current Devils. Things started to get more heated and the gathered Devils found their voices, shouting at Tylin on the stage. He waved his hand once he saw the silver Devils move to split up the shouters and Tylin patiently waited for the yelling to stop. Besides being the capital of the Underworld and the original home of Lucifer, Lucifaad had one main form of resident. War soldiers. The ones that survived the Great War under the banner of the Lucifer Clan stayed here and that's who were mainly gathered here. While some had families, the low birth rate among Devils made it so they were in the minority and the only Devils here were the ones without family.

And that's exactly what Tylin wanted.

"...Are you finished?" Tylin looked around, finding no one yelling anymore and made his first point clear. "Then why do you all hide in this majestic city? Why don't you all go out and take what is rightfully yours? You all fought and bled for your kings so what's stopping you? Is it Fear? Compliance?" No one answered. "I thought as much." Tylin sighed before giving a mock chuckle. "It's truly laughable you know. Devils were once one of the most feared beings in the world, in all worlds. And now? You're all nothing!" His voice rang out once more, with greater vigor than before and it caused some Devils to stumble back. "My parents told me of a time where Devils had the most freedom in the world! They did what they wanted, when they wanted, and no one could tell them otherwise! Is that not what you all had!? What you all want back!?" No one said anything to Tylin's questions.

"...It's not that simple." The same browned haired Devil from before spoke through clenched teeth and Tylin looked down at him.

"No, it's very simple." He shook his head. "You all followed the Satans without question. Followed them when they promised you the world, believed that they could give you the world. They couldn't." The Devils present became confused at his words, wondering why he seemed to be bringing up the Satan's failure. "They died. The Fallen take up residence in _our_ Underworld and God retreats back into Heaven. But you're all right; we should just give up, let them go off without a scratch and never leave the safety of our homes. Like rats. Right?" Tylin asked the question with full honesty and looked at the faces of all those gathered.

It really was too easy.

"No!" Like it was practiced, the refusal vibrated throughout the center and Tylin made a confused face.

"But isn't that what you all want? To live in dull peace? To not honor your creator's will and let sleeping dogs lie?"

"NO!" The word was said with even better synchrony.

"Then what do you want!?"

"I want to invade Heaven!" A tall, male Devil from the side screamed. "I want to kill Metatron for killing my father!"

"I want to kill that pointy eared fucker! He killed my brother and sister for kicks!" A scarred, female Devil added on the side.

This seemed to set off a wave because many Devils yelled out their goals and ambitions, some in revenge and others to gain what they fought for. A few were shameless and exclaimed how they had "helped" many female Angels fall. It was chaos and many started getting riled up, causing the silver Devils to break them apart. Yet Tylin watched this all with a blank face and spoke.

"Then let's do it." He said this softly yet every Devil in the center heard it, silence reigning once more. "Let's invade Heaven. Let's kill that pointy eared fucker. Let's show the world what it means to be a Devil!" They became restless once more but one Devil spoke out. It was the same brown haired Devil.

"B-But the Bael Clan will never-"

"Did you swear loyalty to Bael?" Tylin quirked a brow at the Devil. "Did Bael create the Devil race? Did he bring the Devil race to it's golden age? No? Then allow me to tell you what he did. Bael...fled. He saw his leaders die and did what he knew best. He ran. Then he took over the Devil race and told it to no longer fight, to hide from the world. Like rats. Are you seeing a pattern here?" Tylin asked rhetorically but acted upset when no one responded. "Are you all rats!?"

"No!"

"Are you Devils!?"

"Yes!"

"Then start acting like Devils! No more hiding! No more waiting! Take what you want, do what you want! And if Bael wants to stop us then...we'll just go through him too." Tylin didn't even wait a second before the gathered Devils screamed in agreement with such volume that a regular human probably would have had his ear drums burst. 'Time for the main event.' Tylin nodded at Mulen who was behind the stage and the Lucifer ambassador waved his hand, a magic circle appeared on the ground next to the Leviathan descendant. Tylin smiled as the circle shone and a group appeared on the stage next to him. 8 Devils that looked like children fell on the ground, they had multiple bloody marks across their bodies and they were tied up. This was the choir of the Prince of the Gremory Clan, Sirzechs Gremory.

"W-Where are we!?"

"Please! Let us go!"

"I-I want to go home..."

"S-Sir Sirzechs...please..."

The children reacted in different ways to the new surroundings but they all were scared and wanted some clarity. Tylin ignored them however and faced the crowd of confused Devils. "You all are ready to fight for glory and I will give you that chance but first, let's deal with one small issue." Tylin turned to the children and grabbed one, roughly bringing him up. He waved his hand and a magic circle appeared in the boy's mouth. "Tell us, why did you come to Lucifaad?" The boy didn't speak. "Answer me!" Tylin yanked his hair and the boy screamed in pain.

"W-We came to do the s-song of peace..." The boy said this through gritted teeth and Tylin snorted.

"We've had enough peace." Tylin threw the boy back to the others. "200 years we've kept quiet. No more. What say you?" Tylin spoke to the audience but frowned when no responded, hesitation on many of their faces. "Do you still want this hollow peace?!"

"N-no!" While refusal was lackluster compared to before, Tylin smiled victoriously.

"Then let there be war." Waving his hand, sea water came out from magic circles in the air and twirled around the choir. The water slowly wrapped around them and raised them high in the air, ready for execution. Tylin wasn't stupid. He knew what would happen to him the moment he killed the Gremory Prince's choir, especially considering how much they cared about their servants but that's exactly why he was doing this. It would destroy Sirzechs and cause him to spiral into a fit of depression and despair. The Satan families were ready to go to war and they needed that monster out of the picture for a while. News of what's happening had probably reached Sirzechs and he would be on his way here if it did but Tylin would be long gone by then. Was that cowardly? Very. Did he care? Not even a little.

"Sir..." A silver Devil warned Tylin and he looked out at the crowd, immediately finding the problem. A silver haired, red eyed problem walking through the crowd of Devils to the stage.

'Grayfia Lucifuge...' Tylin could feel the power radiating from Grayfia and knew she was seconds away from firing off her magic. Most definitely meant to save the choir and wipe him off the face of the map. The compassion within the Lucifer Clan's enforcer was well known and any other time Tylin would be shitting himself being on the receiving end of the she Devil's cool gaze, let alone her stone cold fury. Yet, tapping into his reserves of calm that he had no idea he had, Tylin calmly lifted his hand and traced a finger over a silver ring that was on his pointer finger. Grayfia stopped in her tracks and stared at the ring, internal conflict showing on her face. A small (read: very large) part of Tylin was nervous, worried that Grayfia's loyalty to the Lucifer Clan may snap and she may kill him because of how her magic kept fluctuating. Fortunately, Grayfia's magic power finally calmed down and she stared down at the ground, her entire demeanor ashamed and angry (at who is up for debate). Sighing in relief, Tylin smiled victoriously and clenched his fist.

"!" The water wrapped around the kid's heads and they started struggling, trying to get the water prison off their heads. They slowly drowned and the Leviathan descendant laughed, seeing his plan going perfectly. Nothing could stop him now. Civil War was declared, that monster Sirzechs will soon be wallowing in his grief, and Grayfia was still a loyal tool to the Lucifer Clan. It was all so perfec-

"Sir!"

"What!?" Tylin yelled in anger and exasperation, getting tired of his soldier's voice. He saw the Devil guard's frantic look and how he moved towards him. Confused, Tylin turned around and finally saw what was wrong. It was a young man. He had short black hair, brown eyes and an unremarkable face. There was nothing about the man that would catch Tylin's notice.

He was completely and totally normal. If you ignored his currently glowing aura, the fact that he was flying through the air towards him and that the man's fist was getting ever closer to the Leviathan descendant's face.

'Oh-' Then Tylin's vision went black.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

A shockwave rang out as my fist connected with the asshole descendant's face and he was sent flying through a building. Then into another one. Then another one. After slamming into a fourth building, Tylin finally stopped and dust covered his unconscious body. A pin could be heard in the large space as the choir children fell down, being freed from their watery prison and coughed. I looked around and noticed how everyone from the silver Devils to the normal Devil citizens and even the Devil kids (after they got their breath back) stared at me in absolute shock.

"..."

"..."

"...I really wished I had a camera." That was all I got.

"Get him!" The Lucifer ambassador commanded and jumped off the stage, fleeing back. The Devil soldiers quickly rushed at me and I sent Chi Hammers at every soldier, slamming into them. They were all flung back and I punched down on the platform, shattering it to pieces.

"Jack!" I yelled out and Mephisto's Devil minion did not disappoint. Air tentacles reached out and grabbed all the kids, pulling them to a corner of the collapsing stage. Silver Devils tried to fly after the kids but I didn't let them. Chi Bursting to them, I sliced 3 Devils in a row and kicked one in the stomach, sending him flying into a house. More Devil soldiers started getting their bearings and tried to rush us but Jade was a step ahead. She froze the dust in the air, creating a massive barrier around us and stopping the Devils in their tracks. Though, judging from the attacks hitting the barrier, we didn't have long. Jack came into view and checked on the kids before looking at me. His face was a mix between confusion, exhaustion, and a faint hint of acceptance.

"...If it makes you feel any better...I have no idea what I'm doing."

"It doesn't." Jack deadpanned.

"And that's why I said if." I retorted and a loud bang rang out, cracks started appearing over the ice barrier.

"What do we do?" Jack asked and I looked at the ice barrier, as more cracks started appearing over it, before looking back. I had a plan actually. They wanted the kids, then we just needed to split up. I take 4, Jack takes 4 and we book it for the exit. With Jack's illusion spells and my Chi Vision monitoring the enemies then our odds are pretty good.

'Except if Jack gets caught, it's over for him and the kids he's with.' More cracks started to appear. 'He doesn't have my fighting capabilities to fight off the Devil soldiers.' Another bang. 'They'll die.'

I'm not a hero. It's not my job to save everyone who can't save themselves. I have goals and dreams I want to accomplish. I can't-

"Pierce!" Jack yelled and I came to, just in time for another large bang from outside the barrier. "Well?!" I stared at Jack's franticness and made my decision.

"Lets-" I stopped, noticing one of the kids in the group. They were huddled together and shivering, some blocking their ears from the chaos. There was a girl, with long brown hair and a yellow dress. She was holding a smaller boy in her arms and giving soothing words to the boy, telling him everything would be okay. She looked just like-

"Pierce!" Jack's voice became even more frantic now as chunks of the barrier started coming down and I had to slice a large one that fell on us in half. I sighed.

"...Get the kids out of here Jack." He looked at me in shock.

"B-But what are you going to do?" I stared at the illusionist and cracked a mad smile.

"I'm going to make some new friends."

"..." We said nothing and it got quiet outside the barrier and Jack nodded in the end. He held onto the kids and they slowly disappeared.

"Don't die." That was he said as he and the kids fully left. I sighed at the scene and looked down at my familiar.

"...Whatever happened to good luck?" I shook my head in amusement and picked up Jade. She jumped to my shoulder and stood high, ready to go. "Good girl." I petted the green rabbit and took out a Light Sword. Touki on, my regular sword in one hand and Light Sword in the other, I didn't wait long before the barrier was completely shattered. On the other side stood a bunch of Devil soldiers and one very pissed off Leviathan descendant. Tylin was floating in the air, his glare harsh and piercing with his left cheek bleeding. I watched as he scanned over me before a look of confusion appeared.

"A human?" He said this with shock in his voice. "...A human?" There wasn't much shock that time. Veins started appearing on his forehead and his magic power started to rise, magic circles popping up all around him. "Why!? Why would you save them!? Do you have any idea what you just messed up!? Answer me!" Tylin screamed at me in anger, as if he didn't just try to execute children to declare war. My amused smile must have set him off as he blasted me with a stream of condensed water, forcing me to duck and watch as it cut cleanly through the house behind me. "What's so funny!?"

"Oh nothing it's just...you are one warped bastard." I stood up straight and cracked my neck. "Why did I save them?...Because they were just a bunch of kids who were doing what they thought was right. That's all I needed." Tylin only got angrier with that but I didn't care as I pointed my sword at Devils. "Now then...who wants to go first?"

Then they all charged at me.

* * *

And done. As you all can tell...I don't know jack shit about making a good rebellion speech. Pierce may not be a hero but he's still one of the "good guys" and he'll do what he believes is right. Even when it will hurt like Hell (I'm sorry I had too. I just finished playing Marvel's Spider man yesterday and that's why it took me so long to post this chapter. I actually finished it a couple of days ago but never sent it to my beta reader because I was playing so...sorry?) Rambling aside, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	26. Chapter 25

_**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**_

**Rafafalafa (Guest):** Then here, let me give you a piece of advice. Stop reading. There are plenty of stories out there that don't change point of view, go read them because I'm going to still do it. I do this for fun and I'm not going to beg anyone to read my story.

**Evan (Guest):** Pierce doesn't have a Sacred Gear nor do I plan on giving him one.

**DahakStaz:** That's actually all canon. The civil war was declared in Lucifaad in High School DxD Zero. The choir was also meant to die, making Sirzechs mourn their deaths for six months. At least, that's what I think he was doing since he didn't join the Civil War until six months later. While the kids died in the chaos in canon, in my story I made it so it was planned by the Satan families to hurt Sirzechs. But now Pierce saved them and changed the timeline once again…and he has no idea.

**bludvein:** I get that man but the majority of people want her in the harem and I kind of want her in it too. If it makes you feel better, I plan for their relationship to have all the problems a real one would have considering all the factors (other women, Grayfia's allegiance, Sirzechs). I'm not just going to drop her in the harem and besides, this is a fanfiction. I'll do whatever I find interesting and it's not like anything's changed about Grayfia and Sirzechs being canon. Just enjoy the ride and don't think too hard on it.

* * *

**Chapter 25: First Recruit and No Rest for the Wicked**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and wonder what Ichiei was doing when he thought up the concept of DxD. I own the OCs. I thought up the first chapter of A Minor Tale while eating lasagna.

* * *

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Lucifaad**

If there was one word to describe my life in a nutshell it would be…

Stupid. Monumentally stupid. And there was a lot of evidence to support that description. Dying because I went out to get basic groceries and being reincarnated in a world that's centered around an extremely perverted protagonist that wants to become a harem king. Discovering a mystical life energy that can make me superhuman at month 7, killing a monster bear that had no real place in nature, fighting beings far stronger than I am because I thought it would be awesome (it is), and oh yeah I saved a bunch of Devil kids from being executed because I suddenly have a conscious.

And yet I find nothing wrong with none of that.

"I seriously need to go see a psychiatrist or something after this!" I said as I sliced a silver Devil in half with my Light Sword, turning him to ash. Blocking 2 more blades, I pushed them back and Jade turned them into ice sculptures. I kicked them to pieces and jumped out of the way when a large water Dragon tried to crush me. I looked up to see Tylin flying above, magic circles floating around him and sea water was pouring out of them.

"_**Milites Mare."**_ Tylin chanted and the sea water started to stand up, morphing into large warriors with harpoons. Tilting my head, a harpoon shot by my face and I caught a second one. I tossed it back and it pierced through multiple water warriors but it did nothing. They rushed over to me and I weaved through their attacks, cutting off their watery limbs whenever I saw the chance. I frowned however when they just reformed their detached appendages and blocked a harpoon that got dangerously close to my chest.

"Jade." My familiar immediately responded and froze the water creations solid, I cut them to pieces. I Chi Burst to the side, dodging a large fireball the size of a house and ran when even more started to come at me. Many silver Devils were flying in the sky, chanting together and creating massive magic circles that shot out the fireballs. I ran between buildings, the fireballs demolishing the buildings and leaving huge smoldering craters. 'I also need to learn a flying spell already!' After dodging another fireball that singed the corners of my clothes, I crouched and jumped high in the air. I flew towards the floating Devils and pierced through the chest of one with my regular sword. Using him as a foothold, I kicked off the Devil and flew towards the others. I took out 7 silver Devils this way and just as I was about to pierce another Devil, Tylin made himself known to me once again.

_**"Exercitatio**_ _**Aqua." **_A large water drill flew at me and I crossed my arms, blocking the attack. I gritted my teeth as the drill cut into my flesh and I was flung back to the ground, a crater forming upon my landing. I back flipped out the way of more drills and sent large Chi Swords at the Leviathan descendant, only for him to protect himself with a water barrier. I ducked the blades of 2 silver Devils behind me and cut off their heads with the Light Sword. Ignoring their ashes falling on my shoes, I stared up at the Leviathan descendant as he formed an extra large magic circle. I watched in shock as a large red claw popped out and tried to snap at me, forcing me to retreat. A 15 meter tall crab walked out of the circle and landed on the ground, cracks appearing under it. My face must have been quite a sight as Tylin smirked; assuming the look of shock was because of fear.

"…It's beautiful." I said in awe as I looked at the large crab and Tylin blinked.

"…What?" The Leviathan descendant asked in confusion but I ignored him and wiped away some saliva that escaped my mouth. I flared my Chi and stared at the crab in fever.

"Oh I am eating well tonight!" I charged at the crab and slid under its massive claw, slashing at its tough exoskeleton. Seeing a faint white mark being made, I put away my sword and punched the crab's joints with a Seismic Fist. The shell cracked from the inside and it roared in pain, swiping at me with its pincers in anger. I dodged the attack and sent another Seismic Fist to its leg, shattering the shell completely and forcing it to kneel. Activating Sword Fury, I tried to swing down on the massive familiar but was tackled by a water soldier. Jade froze the soldier and I crushed it to pieces, just in time to parry 2 silver Devil's blades. Cutting them both in half, the large crab sprayed a jet of water at me and I hurriedly dodged to the left. The water cut deep into the concrete and left a long scar down the street. I charged forward, narrowly dodging the second water attack and jumped high above the crab's claw. I slashed down with my Light Sword and it smoothly cut into the creature's exoskeleton, proving its demonic origin.

"!" The crab fell back in pain as my Light Sword cleanly cut off its pincer…before the large appendage turned to ash.

"Oh God damn it!" I cursed and kicked a silver Devil back into his group, Jade encasing them in an ice dome. "I figured that would happen but come on! That's just wast-" I didn't get to finish as Tylin sent more water drills my way. "At least let me finish my rant!" Jade froze the drills in their tracks and I took out my crossbow, firing multiple arrows at him. The arrows destroyed Tylin's water barrier and one even lodged itself in his leg, making him scream in pain.

"You little fuc-" He didn't get to finish as I kept firing and forced him to fly higher, out of the crossbow's range. Clicking my tongue, I started firing at the other Devils and started to really mow them down. I tried to make as much chaos as I could so Jack would have enough time to leave the city. From how the silver Devils were blocking access to certain areas before, it was only safe to assume that they would block the entrances to the city. More and more silver Devils started gathering at the center of the city, constantly filling in the spots of the Devils I've killed. After slashing a silver Devil's head in half, I noticed how many of them backed up and seemed to watch me intently (even the monster crab wasn't attacking anymore). Frowning, I felt a large surge of power from Tylin and he conjured a massive magic circle in the sky. The silver Devils also conjured magic circles and they interconnected, forming a large barrier around me.

"That's not good…" I narrowed my eyes as I slowly backed away and Tylin's magic circle shone bright. I didn't wait for long before a literal flood of sea water poured out of the magic circle, falling on the city. "What the-'' Gallons upon gallons of water fell on me, turning the city block into the middle of the sea and I quickly jumped out of the water. Landing on top of a tall building, I saw how the barrier stopped the water from spreading out. I didn't get the chance to admire the view as a large hand made of water reached out and grabbed me. It dragged me into the water and I could see many dangerous fishes encircling me (sharks, killer whales, and even a couple of eels). I ripped the water hand apart and tried to swim to the surface but a shark bit my leg, dragging me back down. Thankfully it seemed to be a regular shark, I pierced my sword into its head and Jade froze the water around me, freezing the other aquatic life. I swam to the surface and hopped back onto the building I was just on, taking a minute to catch my breath.

_**"Tobi no Umihebi Ryu!" **_Of course, the asshole descendant wasn't planning on giving me that chance and a massive sea serpent lunged at me. I Chi Burst away from the building, which was subsequently swallowed whole, and right into the jaws of another serpent. I held up its jaw, preventing it from clamping down on me and it rammed into two other buildings, me being hit with the full force.

"Argh!" I grunted in pain, spitting out some blood as the serpent transformed back into sea water. Sitting up, I watched as Tylin lowered back down to where I could see him and he had his arms crossed arrogantly, dozens of sea creations surrounding him. 'Oh it's on now bitch.' I cracked my neck and stood up, getting ready for round 2.

"I must say, I am impressed." Tylin said this with a smirk on his face. "I've met my fair share of humans but none have made me as excited as you have." I made a weird face at that.

"…Bud, you really need to work on your wording."

"What?" Tylin frowned.

"I mean I have nothing against your sexual preference but bringing it up in the middle of a fight is a bit…" I quickly leaned back, dodging a water drill. Tylin's face lit up like a glow stick.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Oh please, you couldn't think of any other word other than excited!? Really!?"

"That's-" Tylin stopped himself and took a deep breath, calming himself down. "Join the Great Satan Faction." I quirked a brow at the offer (and the ironic name choice).

"Hard pass." Of course I immediately refused and Tylin humphed.

"You don't really have much of a choice." Tylin's water creations encircled me and more silver Devils started coming in through a gap in the barrier.

"Ah yes the negotiator, because threatening people into working for you _never_ backfires." I sarcastically said.

"We'll fix that mouth on you soon enough." Tylin shook his head. "There's no reason for us to be fighting."

"The past 10 minutes of us trying to kill each other says otherwise."

"And for what? A bunch of children who can't see that the Devil race deserves greater? Join us and you'll have everything you've ever wanted."

"…That's quite generous of you; I'm surprised you would allow a "lowly" human like me to join your special club."

"Many races joined the Devil's side in the Great War; if we plan to start another one then we must gather strength where we can." Tylin pitched the Great Satan Faction to me and how joining it will be the greatest choice of my life. Ignoring the descendant's speech, (along with how the silver Devils were encircling me) I turned on Chi Vision and found that many Devils seemed to be coming from the outer regions of the city to this area.

'Good.' The more enemies that come here, the less Jack would have to deal with in case he gets caught. I was just waiting for a message saying he made it out so I can haul ass out of here. I could probably beat Tylin and all his silver Devils but stronger enemies may arrive and then I'll be in trouble. I noticed how quiet it had gotten and looked at Tylin, he was glaring hard at me.

"Were you ignoring me?"

"Yep." I replied, popping the "p" and smirked at the vein that appeared on his forehead. He looked ready to blow his cool but he instead huffed and stared me in the eye.

"Last chance, pledge your loyalty to the Great Satan Faction and you won't die here."

"…You know, you're lucky I need to stall or you wouldn't have half the amount of dialogue." I said with a smirk and Tylin's face darkened before sighing.

"Guess you just can't expect anything from a lesser being." Waving his hand, the water around me started to rise and the creatures closed in. "You can die now." I snorted.

'We'll see about that.' Closing my eyes, I could sense the water creations lunge at me but I ignored them. With Jade still resting on my shoulders, I used the Spiritual Connection between us to channel her powers into my Touki. Opening my eyes, I saw a shark made of water about to bite down on me and I lifted my hand to meet it. Upon contact, the shark froze immediately and shattered to pieces. Not wasting a second, I punched every creation and they all turned into ice sculptures before shattering. I smirked at the shocked look Tylin had and observed my new form. My Touki was now a bright emerald color and to anyone else it would be biting cold but it was actually soothing to me (I could even feel my mind becoming calmer). Grayfia told me that it's possible to fuse with your familiar and combine your strengths. The one drawback is that Jade needs to focus on keeping the link, meaning she can't help me in the fight. I called it Advent of the Jade Warrior. Yes, I know my naming sense sucks.

_**"Tobi no Umihebi Ryu!"**_

_**"Nulla Lanceam."**_ Creating a Chi lance, I skewered the serpent and froze it solid. The lance extended and pierced towards Tylin, freezing his water barrier. Tossing the serpent aside, I rushed at the now trapped Tylin and kicked the barrier. While it didn't break, it was still sent flying and crashed into a building. Not waiting for the dust to settle, I made an extra large sword of Chi and sent it at the rubble. It ripped through the debris and skewered deep into the ground. I smiled before leaning back; narrowly dodging a spear thrust and grabbed the attacking silver Devils by the neck. I ignored his flailing and took notice that there was now a small army of silver Devils inside the barrier. That all want to kill me. "…What a moment to be alive." Freezing the silver Devil in my hand, I dropped him and he shattered to pieces on impact. _**"Gryttr Ham.**_ _**Auka Atrið." **_Casting my magic, my emerald colored Touki gained streaks of silver and I stared at the silver Devils. "This is usually the part where I say something clever before you guys attack me but…nah I'm good." Creating dozens of Chi swords, I sent them at the Devils and they mowed them down. Dodging the volley of fire balls and water blades, I got to work cutting down the legion.

* * *

**Same Time, Agreas**

Deep inside the Agares territory, a large floating city hovered high in the sky. This was an important landmark because it regulates the flow of air and temperature of the entire Underworld. This was also where the Original Satans did their research and created new weapons of war against Heaven. Within one of these laboratories, two male Devils could be seen standing next to each other. Both were incredibly handsome men with one having green hair that was slicked back, light blue eyes, and green robes. The other had long crimson hair, blue eyes, and red clothes that fit him snuggly. These 2 were Ajuka Astaroth and Sirzechs Gremory respectively. The Gremory Prince had come to the floating island at the request of his friend and rival, and was currently looking at a bright white crystal. Ajuka waited patiently for the Gremory's reaction to the (very) important crystal.

"…That's nice?" Sirzechs made an odd face and gave his response hesitantly. Ajuka sighed.

"Sirzechs I just explained it to you."

"No. You started saying big technical terms that you know I won't get because you enjoy it."

"I don't enjoy it." Ajuka rolled his eyes and gently picked up the crystal. "I mean really. You can match my strength without question but your intellect leaves much to be desired." He shook his head in regret and walked over to a large machine, placing the crystal in a slot. Sirzechs watched him with narrowed eyes.

'…He just called me stupid, didn't he?' Now while Sirzechs couldn't compare to his childhood friend's genius, he was not dumb. Being raised as the Gremory heir meant that he needed to keep a certain level of dignity and know how. None of that meant much however when you're talking to a guy that single handedly created a way to revitalize a race so Sirzechs let it go. Walking up the machine, it started to rumble and it opened up, showing a small wolf in an artificial environment. "…Do you guys always have that in there?"

"Shh." Ajuka hushed Sirzechs quiet (earning him a small pout) and they watched as the crystal from earlier appear next to the wolf. The wolf observed the object and encircled it a couple of times before reaching out to bite it. Upon contact, the crystal shone brightly and it dissolved, the liquid entering the wolf's body. Sirzechs watched in shock as the light dimmed and the wolf ended up completely okay, now emitting demonic energy.

"W-Was that a…"

"Yes, it was an Evil Piece." Ajuka nodded before shrugging. "Well a near perfect replica anyway."

"B-But what about the whole ritual and sacrifice and your essence? I didn't feel any of your magic power within that crystal." Sirzechs had seen Ajuka create his first Evil Piece and it was many times more complicated than that. The Astaroth heir went through an entire process to create 2 sets and they went to their prospective fathers.

"They're not necessary now. Not when we have this." Ajuka took out another crystal and brought it up to the light. "These are special crystals naturally formed here on Agreas Island and they alone can completely change the physiology of a being while retaining the converters mind."

"Even Gods and Buddhas?" Sirzechs asked, curious.

"Well, I've haven't had the chance to test that but probably. I personally doubt it but who knows. Someone in the future may just do what we think is impossible." Ajuka smiled at the thought of him being wrong. Being proven wrong isn't always a bad thing, especially to a scientist like him.

"True." Sirzechs took the crystal from Ajuka and looked it over; in slight awe that such a small crystal can be the key to repopulating an entire race (with his friend's help of course). His father always told stories of the Great War and how he felt regret for the countless women, men and children that died for nothing. Sirzechs shared his father's empathy and that's why he wanted to help Ajuka with the Evil Piece's projects however he can. 'Except he's practically finished and I've done jack.' He made a wry smile and Ajuka must have seen that because he snorted.

"You've done plenty Sirzechs. Do you think I would have been able to convince Lord Agares to let me into this laboratory without your help? Or convince the Noble Devils that Evil Pieces will only be beneficial to the Underworld? I couldn't have gotten this far without you." Ajuka smiled and patted his friend on the shoulder.

"Ajuka…" Sirzechs was honestly moved.

"Besides, knowing you, you'd somehow find a way for the Evil Pieces to create Angels." Ajuka shook his head at the absurd thought and Sirzechs deadpanned.

"…You're mean today." Sirzechs sighed at Ajuka's shrug and looked out a side window. There was a large amount of construction going on and many Devils moving about, building large structures of different sizes. "What are they doing out there?"

"I believe Lord Agares wanted to make Agreas into a tourist spot." Ajuka explained as he waved his hand and a magic circle appeared under the wolf in the machine. Sirzechs just nodded in agreement of the idea. While he liked it when the Devil Lords did anything that didn't involve war, a tourist spot did sound nice. Sirzechs quickly noticed that things started to get noisy outside and frowned when he noticed soldiers flying into the city. "Hey Ajuka somethings-"

"Sir Ajuka, Sir Sirzechs!" A Devil rushed into the laboratory, out of breath and sweaty. He even had his wings out, showing that he must have flown here from somewhere far.

"Hale? What's wrong? Are you okay?" Sirzechs became worried at his usually calm attendant's frantic form. The attendant took a minute to catch his breath before speaking.

"The Great Satanic families have declared Civil War!" Ajuka and Sirzechs went wide eyed at that.

"How long ago was this?" Ajuka asked with a grim frown.

"Just a couple of minutes ago, they declared war in the capital. It's a nightmare down there! Countless are injured or dead!"

"The capital?" Ajuka frowned at the location before remembering something. "Wait, Sirzechs isn't your choi-" A crash interrupted Ajuka as he turned and saw a large hole leading outside, Sirzechs flying at breakneck speed in one direction. There was a sonic boom and then nothing as the Gremory Prince was already out of sight. "…Nevermind." Ajuka sighed and turned back to Hale. "Inform Sirzechs parents of what's happened. I'll message Serafall and Falbium, hopefully we can storm the city in time."

"I-Is Prince Sirzechs worried for his choir?" Ajuka stopped at Hale's words and turned to him.

"Yes, that's why he went ahead. Has there been any news of them?" Ajuka was surprised at Hale's nod, figuring that because the choir is in the middle of this mess, they're chances of surviving wouldn't be too high.

"They were about to be executed in Lucifaad for singing the song of peace."

"Were about to? They're still alive? Who saved them?" Ajuka, while relieved, wondered who saved them. 'Did Falbium know of the descendant's plans and sneaked into Lucifaad? Or was it Serafall?' Ajuka immediately thought of all the possible candidates that could have saved the kids.

"A glowing human with a green rabbit."

"…"

"…"

"…What?"

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

My fist landed on a silver Devil's face, freezing it then shattering to pieces. Back flipping out of the way of a bunch of spears, I took out my crossbow and started pelting the surrounding Devils with Holy Frost Arrows. Many couldn't dodge in time and fell out of the sky, landing with frost and burns. I Chi Bursts around the enemies' and even used their tracking spells against them, running into other Devils, causing the spells to hit them. I tried to cause as much chaos as I could to really undermine their teamwork.

"He's going to the right!"

"Set up a containment zone!"

"No, we need to check on Master Tylin!"

"Mother fuck-Who hit me!?" Safe to say, that was the easy part.

'…These guys suck…' I made a weird face as I maneuvered the battlefield, creating foot holds on the water by freezing it and slashing at every Devil that came my way. These guys had basic combat training and magic, but their command left a lot to be desired. They only gave orders whenever I made a move and by then I was already on to the next enemy. It wasn't even the same guy giving orders and they were attacking recklessly. 'If these guys are the standard then it's no one wonder earlier in the story, Issei could beat the Old Satan Faction's grunts.' I idly thought this as I sliced two Devils in half and skewered the head of another. Parrying multiple slashes from another group, I cut them all to pieces and got hit in the face with a mace. My head leaned back, I looked to the Devil that hit me and he was in shock (He probably didn't expect it to land).

"Uhhh…I'm sor-" He didn't get to finish as I kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying into the water. He didn't come back up.

"…Nice." Rubbing the place where I got hit, I turned around to keep fighting but then I felt a huge aura deep inside the water. It circled around the building I was on and I didn't wait long before it rose out of the water. A massive sea dragon with sharp fangs, green-black scales, and demonic horns towered over me and glared. It's aura was also vaguely similar to Tyl- "Wait." Blinking, I scanned over the monster with Chi Vision and discovered that it was indeed the Leviathan descendant. "…Damn, talk about being ugly on the inside _and_ the outside." By Tylin's growl, he didn't appreciate that.

"You should be proud of this accomplishment. Very few can say they forced me to change into this form! Now you can-Argh!" Tylin screamed in pain as I hit him in the face with a Chi Spear and it froze one of his horns. Jumping high in the air, I slashed down on his scales with my Light Sword and was surprised to see it actually bounced off. Kicking off his body, I narrowly avoided being eaten (I wonder what would happen if he eats something my size and transforms back) and dodged his tail sweep. Sending Chi Swords at every corner of his body, they all landed but none of them pierced his scales and only slowed him down. I kept pelting him with projectiles and when most of his body was frozen, I jumped towards his head. Then Tylin opened his mouth and a blue fire attack came out, right at me.

'Oh shi-' Crossing my arms in time, the breath attack sent me flying and I was flung through multiple houses. I landed in the water and had to swim out, climbing a shoe store. Gritting my teeth as the fire got through my Touki; my Chi got to healing my arms and had to roll to the side as Tylin's crab familiar from earlier attacked. "Where the hell have you been!?" Dodging the massive crab's pincer, I grabbed onto it and froze it solid. My regular sword had a much easier time cutting off its arm and the crab roared in pain. I ignored it however and put the massive claw in my space ring (I wasn't kidding). Unfortunately, the crab retreated into the water and Tylin arrived at the scene, attacking me with another breath attack. I Chi Burst away and activated Sword Fury, slashing down on the Leviathan descendant.

"!" Tylin roared in pain as my attack shattered his scales and black blood seeped from his wounds. I tried to hit him again but multiple water soldiers jumped out and tackled me, holding me in place. I quickly shrugged them off and blocked Tylin's fangs with my sword, the concrete under my feet cracking from the weight. I punched Tylin away and sank my sword into one of his wounds, causing him to flail around and dive back into the water.

_"__**Pleistocene Epoch!**__"_ Channeling a large amount of Chi and forming it into a ball, I sent it down at the water. It froze all the water in the street and the frost kept going, freezing even the surrounding Devils. I knelt down, catching my breath from the attack and raised my hand. "Hey…Jack…can you hear me?" I tried to speak between gasps.

"Yeah, I can hear you! I'm almost out of the city; I had to take a detour because some silver Devils found me. How are you holding up?" Jack's voice came through the communication ring and I sighed in relief.

"I'm doing alright… I think. This asshole descendant ain't making it easy but I can take him. Get out soon so I can leave."

"Roger!" Jack gave one last good luck before cutting the connection. I flexed my arms, finding most of the injuries already healed (I guess Advent also improves my healing rate) and stood up. Cracks started appearing all over the frozen waters and Tylin smashed his way out, his serpent form worse for wear. He had only one horn left, the sword cuts on his body were full of frostbite, and his fangs were chipped. He looked like hell.

"…You look like shit." Of course, I didn't hesitate to tell him that and smirked at how angry his aura got. I quickly jumped back, dodging his tail slam and punched his face when he tried to bite at me. Tylin grunted and spit out another fang, getting him even angrier. He kept coming at me recklessly, either biting or firing a water spell at me and I would counter attack. At this point, no more silver Devils were coming into the barrier and the ones that were around were keeping the barrier up. I was pretty much bullying the Leviathan descendant. 'I would feel bad but he did try to execute a bunch of kids so…' I thought of that whenever the feeling of pity welled up within me and attacked Tylin even harder. After leaving a long bloody gash across Tylin's eye, he roared in pain and then fell to the icy ground. The silence was deafening as I watched the still form of the Leviathan. Slowly walking up to him, I lightly kicked him for a reaction and nothing happened (even his aura was saying he was dead). "…Just to be safe." Activating Sword Fury, I marveled at the silver-green color and lifted my sword high.

"W-Wait!" Tylin quickly sprang to life and looked at me with pleading eyes. Though his serpent form did him no favors. "If you do this then the Leviathan Clan will not let you go!"

"…You don't really get this whole begging thing do you?" I asked rhetorically. Tylin growled.

"Listen to me you creti-" My sword came down, striking on his wound and cutting clean through. The serpent head flew off its body and left a bloody trail, landing a couple feet away from me. The body twitched for a couple of times before going limp and a large amount of black blood flowed out of the wound. Sensing one last time with Chi Vision, I put away my sword and looked around. The barrier was still up but no more silver Devils were coming in and it didn't seem like a prison type barrier. It was probably just to keep the water in to help Tylin and I could probably break through with enough force. Choosing to finally get out of here, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye and stopped. It was the crab familiar from before swimming in the waters that weren't completely frozen. There was one thing that was constant with all familiars and that's if the conjurer dies, then the familiar will go teleport back to where it came from. Tylin was dead yet this familiar chose to stick around. Did he have that good of a relationship with it? Or was he…

I turned around and looked back at the corpse of the Leviathan, its limp headless body still there. I walked up to it and touched its scales, finding them real and rough. Confused, I scanned over the body with my Spiritual Energy and my eyes widened when I found out it was a shell made of demonic energy.

It was a clone.

"Son of a bitch!" I kicked the large body away, slamming into the ice and I jumped high in the air, landing on top of a building. I looked around and tried to locate Tylin (he can apparently hide from my Chi Vision), finding something swimming fast near the barrier. Channeling Chi into my eyes, I could clearly see it was the beaten human form of Tylin trying to escape the barrier. Waving my hands, dozens of large green Chi Swords hovered around me and I sent them flying at the escaping Tylin. They pierced through the water, freezing everything they touched but the Leviathan descendant weaved in the water and dodged all of them. I kept sending more but none hit and Tylin was about to reach the barrier. Honestly, at this point I should take my winnings and leave. Jack must have escaped the city by now and if I stay any longer then stronger Devils may arrive. I should just let him go.

"…Fuck that!" I crouched and kicked off the ground, leaving a crater. I ran across the rooftops as a blur and after a minute, made it to the barrier. I could see Tylin had made it outside and was sitting down, being tended to by some Devils. His face when he looked up and saw me through the barrier was priceless. I winded my fist back and punched the barrier, cracks appearing all over it. Then I punched it again. And again. And again. It took five hits in total for the barrier to break and the rest came crashing down, the water it was stopping flooded into the streets. Tylin ran at my first punch.

"Stop hi-" A commanding Devil tried to speak but I just knocked him out. Multiple Devils rushed at me but I quickly took care of them and ran in the direction Tylin went. I found him soon enough but he just sent another wave of silver Devils for me to deal with. This became a trend as I chased the descendent through the city and I was confused. What was the point? I get that he wants to live but what is this accomplishing? He doesn't really think that these cannon fodder could stop me does he?

'He sure can run…' I thought this as I kicked another silver Devil aside and grabbed the spear of another. I snapped the weapon in half and pierced the Devil's chest with one half, stabbing through the neck of another with the second. Tylin finally seemed to stop as he reached the town square where this all started and looked around. Oddly enough, some groups of citizens stayed around with a small group of silver Devils to keep order. There was even…

"Grayfia!" Tylin found the silver haired Devil standing on the side and it was like he found his savior. "Help me! Kill this man!" He moved towards her and I made an amused smile.

'Is he serious? He's not part of the Lucifer Clan so why would she help?" Not to mention the fact she wanted to wipe him out earlier but couldn't because…of his…ring. I quickly looked to Grayfia and saw that she had a conflicted expression on her face. Very conflicted. "Shit." I jetted to Tylin and activated Sword Fury, intending on finishing this.

"Help me! I order you save me! If you still have your oath to the Lucifer's then you'll-Arghhh!" Tylin put up a barrier but my sword cut through and sliced off his forearm, also leaving a nasty cut down his shoulder. He fell to the ground and held his arm, still looking at the female Devil. "Grayfia, you have to-"

"Oh shut up already!" I placed a foot on his chest and brought my sword down, trying to cut his head off. A magic circle appeared in front of my sword and blocked it, protecting Tylin. I looked over at Grayfia lifting her hand and her face was expressionless. _Shit_.

"…I'm sorry." Grayfia's words didn't match her tone as she lifted her other hand and a larger magic circle appeared. It was aimed right for me.

"…Damn it." Then a gust of wind came out of the magic circle and sent me flying far in the distance. I felt my back hit something and then my vision went black.

* * *

Grayfia had to hold back a wince as Pierce smashed against the castle wall, leaving a large crater. She watched as his unconscious body fell out of the crater and to the ground, picking up dust on impact. Grayfia's already present guilt became worse when she saw both the body of Pierce and his rabbit familiar prone in the rubble. She really didn't want to help Tylin but she had an oath to keep. "…I'm really sorry." She said low as Tylin picked himself up and stared at his stumped arm. The rage on his face said it all.

"Why did you only do something now!?" Of course, Tylin needed to make his agony known and glared at Grayfia. "Do you see what he's done? If only you've gotten involved earlier then-" Tylin stopped at Grayfia's glare and he remembered she was the strongest female member of the Great Satan Faction. He lowered his glare and clicked his tongue, still upset over the loss of his silver Devil legion. His big sister will not take his failure well. "Well what are you waiting for!? Someone go tie him up!" Tylin yelled at the present silver Devils and they immediately moved to tie Pierce up.

"What are you going to do?" Grayfia spoke up and narrowed her eyes, her glare forcing the silver Devils to stop.

"First, I'm going to bring him to my Clan and have him tortured in every fashion we can think of. Then, I'll brainwash him and make him into a fine soldier. He can make up for all the silver Devils lost today." Tylin sneered at the human's future fate but Grayfia shook her head.

"I don't think that's going to happen." Tylin narrowed his eyes at the silver haired Devil.

"And why is that? Don't forget Grayfia, that man is now an enemy of the Satanic families and that includes the Lucifer Clan."

"I didn't forget."

"Then what's the problem?" Tylin frowned at the small smirk Grayfia sent his way and she pointed up.

"Him." Tylin looked up and it took all of Grayfia's mental strength not to laugh at his look of fear (she did let out a snicker).

In the air with all 12 Devil wings out, one Sirzechs Gremory stared down at the 2 and he was not happy. Not at all. The silence was deafening as the crimson haired prince and the very scared Leviathan descendant locked eyes. After a minute of glaring, Sirzechs moved his gaze (at Tylin's relief) and he locked his eyes with Grayfia. His glare became a bit softer.

"Grayfia." Sirzechs nodded

"Sirzechs." Grayfia curtly replied back. "If you're looking for your choir then they already left the city." Sirzechs blinked at that and his rising demonic power cut off.

"…Oh." He looked around and saw all the destruction, his gaze momentarily stopping on the unconscious man in the corner. "That's good then…Thank you." Sirzechs assumed it was Grayfia that saved the kids (at the risk of her getting in trouble) but he was stunned when she shook her head.

"I'm not the one who saved them."

"Then who did?" Sirzechs asked and Grayfia pointed to the left. He followed her finger and looked at the unconscious man again. "…Is that a Moon Hare?" Sirzechs noticed the rare familiar by the man and waved his hand, both bodies flying towards him. He caught the familiar in one hand and threw the man over his shoulder before looking back at Grayfia. "I still remember why I came here." He turned to look at the cowering Tylin behind Grayfia.

"I can't let you do that." She made a wry smile and he sighed.

"I know." They locked eyes for a minute and their magic auras clashed against each other, coincidently making it hard to breathe for Tylin. Sirzechs placed a protective aura over the young man over his shoulder to prevent that. Grayfia didn't care to do the same. Just as Tylin looked ready to kneel over from the pressure, Sirzechs stopped and lifted higher into the air, turning around. "I'll see you soon." Sirzechs left that message and flew out of the city, the barrier that protected the city barely stopping him. Tylin watched the Gremory Prince fly away in a cold sweat and shakily turned towards Grayfia.

"W-Who was he t-talking to?" He asked in trepidation and Grayfia looked at him with a bored face.

"Who do you think?" Grayfia turned around and smirked when she heard his groan of despair. It almost made her guilty feelings go away. Almost. She couldn't help but give a bitter smile at what she did to Pierce and how she may have lost another friend because of her job. 'I guess it's my fault for getting my hopes up…' Grayfia couldn't stew in her guilt before she felt her communication ring warm up. She touched it and opened the link.

"…So what are we now? I mean, we're enemies now but that doesn't mean we have to stop being friends. So…secret friends? True rivals? Ooh, I got it! Frenemies!" A woman spoke out and Grayfia wryly smiled at her chipper tone.

"Hi Serafall and no, I don't think we can be frenemies."

"Awww, why not!?"

"Because we're on different sides and…okay maybe we can but we can't meet up like we used to anymore." Grayfia said this with sadness in her voice and Serafall scuffed.

"Oh please, I just need to kick your butt and capture you. Then you'll be my prisoner and we can go to this new cake shop that opened up near here. They're great!" Grayfia gave a small smile at the ridiculous but kind of sound plan.

"Good luck with that." Grayfia looked up where Sirzechs left and she gained a thoughtful expression before speaking. "Hey Serafall can you do me a favor?"

"Sure! What do you need?"

"I need you to deliver a message…"

* * *

**Unknown Location, Back to Pierce**

I opened my eyes and found myself in a large, white bed. I observed the room I was in and saw all kinds of expensive furniture, paintings, a fireplace, and even a sky light. "Urghhh…Did anyone get the plate of the truck that hit me? I think it started with a G…" I groaned as I sat up and rubbed the back of my sore…everything really.

"…What's a truck?" A voice rang out and I turned to see a beautiful browned haired woman with a shapely figure sitting on a chair. She had a motherly smile and kind violet eyes. I blinked, recognizing this woman.

"…Ms. Venelana?" I guessed and the mother of Sirzechs nodded. "Pierce." I extended my hand and Venelana shook it.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Same." We sat there in silence as Venelana played with Jade who was on her lap (that's one less thing to worry about) and I slowly got out of bed.

"I wouldn't do that." I stopped at Venelana's words and narrowed my eyes.

"Why?" They're not misunderstanding something and think I took their kids, are they? I hope not because I can take Tylin and his minions any day but I prefer not to have to fight my way out here. It also has to do with the fact that Venelana alone can kick my ass by what her aura was telling me. I waited in anticipation as the browned haired matriarch looked up and paused before speaking.

"Dinner's not ready yet." She dropped that fact and continued playing with Jade, ignoring my hard deadpan. "Just wait a minute, it will be done soon." Not seeing a way out of that invitation (then again, who's going to say no to free food?) I rubbed my communication ring and dialed Mephisto's number. It rang for a couple of seconds before he picked up.

"…You sure know how to cause waves don't you kid?" Mephisto said with exhaustion and slight excitement in his voice. I snorted.

"Understatement of the year. I delivered the letter, are you going to keep your end of the deal?" I could hear Mephisto snort at the question.

"This ain't my first deal kid, you're in Grauzauberer and I already have my men tracking down the White Dragon Emperor. I'll let you know where he or she is when we find them. What about Jack?"

"He's in the living room." Venelana spoke up and I nodded in thanks.

"Very well then. Pleasure doing business with you kid and I hope I can do so again." Mephisto said that before cutting the call and I watched as Venelana stood up.

"Come, dinner's ready." Venelana walked out of the room still holding Jade and I followed after, being led through the hallway of the Gremory Clan. We reached a set of double doors and they automatically opened, showing us a large room.

"Nice." I whistled at the long table of food in the middle of the room and kinds of dishes laid on it. They were all steaming, showing their freshness and the smell was appetizing. I could see a tall, red haired man with white clothes sitting at the head of the table. He didn't have a goatee. "…It took you 400 years to grow a goatee?" Zeoticus stopped at my comment.

"…What?" He asked, confused but Venelana intervened by stepping forward.

"You should be in bed dear; you could open up your wounds." Venelana said, concerned for her husband but he waved his hand.

"Oh I'm fine honey. A little moving around isn't going to kill me." I noticed the bloody wrapping sticking out of the Gremory head's clothes and wondered how he got injured. "Besides, I had to thank our friend personally for his heroics."

"Um, there's no need for that. I'm not a hero."

"Your actions beg to differ." I heard a voice speak behind me and I turned to see a tall, handsome crimson haired man walk up to me. He smiled and extended his hand. "Sirzechs Gremory." I stared at the hand for a second before shaking it.

"Pierce." I observed the infamous sis-con for all his glory. I wasn't disappointed. Everything from posture to his looks and even aura screamed power and destruction. 'And damn is he handsome.' I made a wry smile at the future Lucifer's looks. I wasn't one to lament my looks compared to others (not that much anyway) but Sirzechs' level was just cheating (It's like Ichiei took the handsome stick and proceeded to beat him half to death with it. Then gave him a second to breathe before resuming).

"I know who you are and you have my thanks for saving my children, if there's ever anything you need then please let me know."

"Don't mention it man, I just did what I thought was right." I waved away his concern and Sirzechs nodded in agreement, leading me to sit down. Dinner with the Gremory clan was as interesting as I thought it would be. They were kind, warm and overall pretty chill. They didn't care for my less than sophisticated eating manner and made idle chatter the entire dinner (I asked about the kids and they were in the hospital getting checked up). Jack even joined us at some point and we made plans to leave the Underworld after I did one last thing. I couldn't leave the Underworld without doing it and I had to perfect help right here.

"Hey Sirzechs."

"Hm?"

"I know I said forget about it but can I cash in that favor?" I nervously asked and Sirzechs enthusiastically nodded his head.

"Of course! Whatever you need just let me know and I'll do it!" Sirzechs said this with conviction and I smiled.

"Cool, don't worry it's not too big. I just want to borrow a couple of builders to make something for me." Sirzechs seemed surprised at the request but nodded in the end.

"Got it, I'll get you the best builders in the Underworld. When do you need them?"

"As soon as you can, thanks man!" I smiled widely at that, glad I got that out of the way. Now… "Can you pass the crab cakes?" Sirzechs leaned over and passed me some oversized crab cakes. I took one and bite into it, savoring the delicious supernatural creature. "Hmmm, perfection." I proceeded to devour the crab meat while somewhere else a monster crab laments the loss of his pincers.

* * *

**Belial Territory, Lord Belial's Castle**

After dinner finished at the Gremory Household (and Sirzechs saying I was invited anytime), I made my way to the Belial castle to cash in that reward. Lord Belial easily did so and even had a deed ready, handing it to me with a smile and thank you. Jack and I went out into the clearing to look around and wait for Sirzechs' builders. We didn't wait long before a group of huge humanoids with four arms walked into the clearing. The largest among them, about 9'3, walked forward and looked down at me.

"Are you Master Pierce?" I blinked at the massive man calling me master before nodding.

"I'm Pierce. Are you the builders Sirzechs sent?" The large humanoid nodded.

"Yes we are, my name is Brian Enepsigos. I am of the Extra Demon House Enepsigos and we're the best builders in the Underworld." Brian puffed his chest out in pride and the rest of his men cheered. I smiled at their enthusiasm.

"Nice to meet you, I hope you can build what I had in mind."

"Haven't seen anything we can't build yet." Brian said arrogantly and I nodded, taking out a piece of paper. While I wasn't a drawer, the Underworld had these quills that can automatically draw what you have in mind (I may have taken a couple dozen after they told me that). I gave the paper to Brian and he looked it over, heavily scrutinizing every detail. We stood there in silence as the builder looked at the job before speaking.

"It's certainly…interesting." Brian gave his opinion on the idea. On the paper, you can see a tall structure that looked like it was standing on stilts with how skinny it was. There was a pole going up its middle and an observatory that laid on top, a single antenna was sticking out the top. This was the Space Needle. Yes, I was planning for the symbol of Seattle to be constructed into the Underworld as an adventurer's guild.

200 years before the USA was even founded.

'Why yes officer, I am a maniacal bitch.' I smiled widely at my idea and asked. "So can you make it?"

"We can, but I have to ask, do you want to make the observation deck physically larger or just install space spells within the walls to make the inside bigger?"

"…How much would the space spell cost?" If it's too much then I may need to take a trip to Olympus first.

"The Gremory Clan said they would foot the bill so it really depends on you." Brian shrugged and I blinked at the generous offer.

"Space spell then." I quickly said and Brian nodded before taking a quill out.

"How high do you want it?" I stared at the Devil after that, then at the sky then back to him.

"How high can you go?" By his smile, I can tell I was probably not going to be invited to dinner at the Gremory's after this.

…Totally worth it.

* * *

**2 Hours Later, Belial Territory**

I watched as the construction of the Belial Needle (can't call it the Space Needle, can I?) went underway and they took my "how high" literally. They already surpassed the height of Lord Belial's castle and they even added some aesthetics to the stilts, making them warp together in a cool, sci-fi kind of way. Jack stayed back to watch the construction while I walked around Belial territory to get some souvenirs for the group. I walked around this large section of the castle and came to the same peaceful lake. If it wasn't for the purple sky, I would have never noticed I was in the Underworld. The peaceful wind along with the waves crashing across the shores made for a great picnic scene. I thought back to the day's events and sighed once I remember how Tylin was still alive. Just like Shiruku's spider maiden, the Leviathan descendant was probably going to come back and bite me in the ass one day. "…Oh well." Shrugging, I put it out of my mind since I couldn't do anything about it and enjoyed the weather (who knows, the entire clan including Tylin could be wiped out in the Civil War so here's fingers crossed). I could hear the leaves rustling, the insects flying among the grass, and even the sound of stones hitting the wate- "Hm?" I opened my eyes and looked left.

A young Devil with brown hair was chucking stones across the water, getting some impressive skips. He kept throwing more as time passed and he threw them even harder each time, some skipping until I couldn't see it anymore. By his land stone, the Devil must have been angry because he yelled and flung the small rock full force. Except, it didn't bounce and it just made a huge splash before sinking to the bottom of the lake. He huffed in anger and plopped to the ground, looking out at the lake in a daze. He never noticed my presence.

"…You alright?" I contemplated just turning around and walking away but I took the chance and asked. The boy jumped at my question and looked over at me. He relaxed once he saw I was alone.

"Sorry, I didn't know someone else was here. I'll leav-" He stood to leave but paused and narrowed his eyes at me. Then they widened a second later and he pointed at me. "It's you!"

"…It's me?" I quirked a brow at his reaction and he nodded.

"You're the one that saved me from those Exorcists! Pierce Van Helsing right?" He asked and my mouth twitched at my name choice (knew that was going to come back to haunt me).

"Yeah, that's me." I sighed and nodded to the Devil. "And you, what's your name?"

"I'm Dean." Dean shook my hand and I tilted my head at him.

"So…are you okay? Are you angry about something or do you just not like this lake?" Dean got downcast at my question and a minute passed before he spoke.

"My uncle's dead."

"…Oh." I rubbed the back of my neck. "What about your parents?"

"They died a couple years ago." Dean became even sadder.

"…_Oh_." I was not doing well. "Do you have any other relatives?"

"My uncle was my last living relative…I have no one else." Dean sat back down and rested his chin on his knees.

"…Do you have a dog?" I asked meekly and Dean didn't bother answering, he just stared out into the water. I slowly backed away from the sad teen and turned to fight another day.

"What's it like out there?" I heard Dean ask and stopped, looking back at the young Devil.

"What do you mean?"

"Just…exploring the world. You're human and your kind definitely doesn't belong down here but here you are. How's it like?" I fell in thought at his question before speaking.

"It's…pretty damn awesome. And fun. Seeing all kinds of new things, meeting new people, and just doing stupid stuff is great. I honestly can't see myself staying in one place after exploring the world like I have, it's really cool." I gave my honest opinion of my travels and looking back, I don't regret my decision to join Adrian's party. It's only been a month but I've had more fun in this short time period than my entire past life. Dean seemed awed by my answer and sighed.

"I wish I could do that."

"…Well why don't you?" I asked, curious and Dean shook his head.

"I want to gain glory and recognition and I need to join the army for that."

"You don't need to join the army for recognition; there are a lot of different ways to get that kind of stuff."

"You sound like my uncle." Dean gave a wry smile at my answer before frowning. "But you're wrong, the army is the only place that gives me what I want. I want freedom, reputation, and power too, so what happened with those Exorcists never happens again. Do you know any other profession that fits those criteria?" Dean asked rhetorically and I made a strange face.

"Kid, I don't know about you but you pretty much described a-" I stopped, my brain working on overdrive as what Dean said finally clicked and I stared hard at the boy.

"…What?" He squirmed under my look. "What is it?" I stared at Dean before walking up to him and placing my hands on his shoulders.

"Dean, tell me…are you a hard worker?" He blinked at the question.

"Uh, I guess so."

"Do you believe in charity?"

"…Not really."

"Do you believe in life, freedom, and the pursuit of wealth?"

"…I'm sorry but you kind of lost me." I waved my hand.

"It's okay, I got my answer. Come with me Dean and I will tell of you of a profession-no, a great way of life! Of men and women who fight for justice, free will, and greatness!...For a price. They're called…Mercenaries." Thoroughly in bullshit mode, I led the now confused Dean back to the castle grounds and pitched my Supernatural Mercenary Association to him. After getting over the fact that I didn't have a managing department or any other employees (it was just a title really) I convinced him to go explore the world and offer his services to those that need help with certain things for money. Like protection, delivery, or even teaching spells since he apparently knows three branches of magic. I told him to go live his life and when I have a real system set up, he can join my organization.

And this is how I got my first employee. I had a shit eating grin as I walked back to the construction site, happy that I actually got my first recruit.

"Hey, are you Pierce?" A high pitch voice spoke up and I stopped, turning towards it. It was a short woman with long flowing hair and she was wearing a blue shirt with a long skirt. Her aura was massive and it reminded me a little of Jades. She smiled up at me. "Hi! I'm Serafall and I got a message for you."

"…What's the message?" After meeting so many of the main characters, I took it in stride and kept my cool. The future Leviathan took a deep breath and bowed.

"I'm very sorry for what's happened and I hope you're okay. I had no choice and understand if you can never forgive me. I hope you stay safe and continue doing what you do." Serafall stood straight up again. "That's it. Oh yeah, this is from Grayfia."

"…Huh." That was all I got. Honestly, Grayfia was doing her job and I didn't fault her for it. I mean what, was she supposed to betray her side just for me? I'm not that awesome and she had family like her brother, parents, and that mother maid to think about. The last thing I was expecting was an apology. Serafall waited patiently for me to respond and I looked at her.

"Can you give a message back?"

"Sure!" Serafall perked up at that. While I found it weird that a clan heir like her seemed so happy about being a messenger, I didn't look a gift horse in the mouth and Serafall gave me her communication ring. I wrote the message through her ring because you needed someone's magic signature to send them a message and I never asked Grayfia for hers (you have to personally give out your signature). I wrote the message and sent it through before giving the ring back to Serafall. She took it back with a smile and looked it over, tilted her head at the message. "Huh… She was right, you are strange."

"…I should keep a tally at this point." I rolled my eyes and looked over Serafall. It was kind of weird to see a woman with such a child-like body and still have a full figure.

"Well I better go it was nice to meet you Pierce-chan!" Serafall saw nothing else to do and chose this moment to leave.

"Yeah, see ya." I waved goodbye and I watched as the Sitri heir left. It's kind of a shame really; I would have liked to see her in a magical girl outfit. That would have been funny to se-

I blinked. I blinked again. Then I raced to Serafall and grabbed her by her shoulders, forcing her to stop.

"What?" She asked in confusion and turned back to look at me. I tried to give the least threatening smile I could possibly make and rubbed my hands.

"Oh, I just wanted to tell you about this new trend that's been going around."

"What trend?" She asked innocently.

"Tell me Serafall, have you ever felt like you were…a "magical" girl?" I smiled manically at the way her eyes lit up.

There was truly no rest for the wicked.

* * *

**10 Minutes Later**

"…What happened?" Jack asked with a suspicious look on his face.

"Hm? What do you mean?" I knew what he meant.

"You're smiling really hard, what did you do?" I rubbed my face and smiled at Jack (who nervously backed up at it).

"Oh nothing happened…I just may have earned the eternal hatred of a strict high school Devil girl."

"…What?" I laughed at Jack's confusion and walked into the middle of the field. The construction of the Needle was still going underway and there was a marker here for me to come whenever I want (when I learn teleportation magic anyway). It was time to leave. Jack sighed and stood next to me.

"You ready?"

"Yep!" I gave a thumbs up and Jack waved his hand, a magic circle appeared under us (leaving the Underworld is many times easier than getting in). The magic circle shone and after a second, we left the Underworld.

* * *

**House of Lucifuge**

Inside a large and grandiose mansion, many maids walked around doing their daily task. One head maid in particular was making a special cake to cheer up her young miss. Grayfia came home with this odd look on her face and she hasn't come out of her room since. But Gloria's famous Devil cake should cheer her right up and be ready for the day. She walked down the hall with the cake in hand and saw her destination.

"Come on big sis, open the door!" With a minor obstruction. Gloria sighed at the Lucifuge Prince's rough handed way of getting his sister's attention. His admiration for his sister, widely known more times than not, irritated Grayfia. Gloria hoped he would grow out of that mentality one day. "Excuse me Euclid."

"She won't let me and I've been knocking for the past hour. Can you do someth-" Euclid didn't get to finish as the door opened and Grayfia looked at him with a bored expression.

"You stay out here." Then she turned around and walked back into her room.

"Sorry Euclid." Gloria gave an apologetic smile and closed the door, Euclid groaning on the other side. Gloria looked around Grayfia's room and found it as clean as ever, not a speck out of place. Grayfia sat down on her bed and she was playing with her communication ring. Her face gave nothing away. Seeing this, the head maid sighed and placed down the cake, walking up to the silver haired Devil.

"Wha-" Grayfia was surprised when Gloria brought her into a hug. She was silent as Gloria lightly squeezed her.

"I heard what happened at the capital. I'm sorry you had to that to your friend, it must have been hard." This wasn't the first time Grayfia lost a friend to her job and while she never talked about it, she was hurt every time it happened.

"…I'm not sad." Grayfia wryly smiled at her mother figure's concern. She wasn't a teen anymore. "Besides, I think everything will be fine."

"…Really?" Gloria was surprised at Grayfia's carefree smile and she nodded.

"Yeah." Grayfia smiled and asked if that cake was for her, Gloria happy to change the subject. She joined her in eating and left her communication ring on the desk. A simple message from Pierce was left there.

_Don't worry about it. We're cool._

* * *

And done. Pierce met many of the main characters and even gets his first mercenary. Time to get the show back on the road. By the way, fuck allergies. And I mean fuck em. I'm honestly proud of myself for finishing this chapter. I've had a runny nose, a cough, stomach pains, and a headache for the entirety of the week and I still managed to finish this chapter. So yeah...give allergies physical form and fuck em. Rant aside, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	27. Chapter 26

_**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**_

**Damien NightFall**:...He doesn't. I'm sorry if this feels cold or evil but Pierce really doesn't care. I never portrayed him as the type of protagonist that cares about the well being of the masses and I've even said that he doesn't care to be a hero. Pierce is a Chaotic Good kind of guy, he'll protect his friends and the people he cares about. Sure, he'll save the occasional innocent bystander (like Dean) or a group of children (like the choir) but that's if he's there to do something about it or if he knows them. The Civil War is happening in the Underworld, a completely different Dimension and the Old Satan Faction is going to have their hands full dealing (and getting their asses handed to them) by the Anti-Satan Faction. They could try and send a team to kill Pierce for what he's done but they won't have that kind of leeway. Besides, Pierce doesn't think that far ahead and just does what he wants. Also, Sirzechs secretly met with Grayfia during the Civil War and that shows he didn't care about what she did, so why the hell would Pierce? Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear but that's my character in a nutshell.

**Supernatural9000**: That's not the kind of thing you say over a message and expect to have a large impact. Grayfia wouldn't have let that happen to Pierce anyway, she knocked him out because she felt Sirzechs close by and she even stopped the soldiers before they got close to Pierce. She'll eventually leave the Old Satan Faction and be free but you can't realistically say she's left everything her life has been because a guy messaged her to.

**NazgulBelserion**: Nah, it won't be that slow a burn. I never liked those either but I really don't like the romances that have a slow burn for absolutely no reason or a very stupid reason. Pierce and Grayfia have a lot that would come between them but they'll get there in reasonable time. Why? Because I said so and that's the perks of being the writer (it's great). Unfortunately, I promised a certain level of realism in my fic and I'm going to have to make it a little slow for it to be realistic.

* * *

**Chapter 26: Pointy Ears and Grave Robbing**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but I would like Ichiei's opinion on my fic. I own all the OCs. Who do I talk to, to make that happen?

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Scandinavia**

High in Northern Europe laid a frosty sub region. These lands contained many natural wonders from the tall mountains in the Norwegian district to the flat, low areas in Denmark and the archipelagos in Sweden and Norway. Often called the Nordic countries, the people there were tough and lived simple but long lives. Ships could be seen traveling on the waters everyday and many citizens in the southern regions could be seen out and about. The Protestant Reformation was currently happening and it heavily impacted the Nordic countries, civil disputes popping up wherever there was church corruption. With the Norse Pantheon actually existing, the fact that the Three Faction's religion reaches here is a bit ridiculous but none of this mattered much to me; kind of hard for it to…when I was a couple thousand feet above it all.

"Whoa!" I whooped in happiness as I flew amongst the clouds, doing flips and twirls. I reached out and touched the fluffy condensed water, leaving trails in the white clouds as I flew by. I abruptly cut my magic and fell straight down, free falling for a minute. After going through multiple clouds, I reactivated my flying spell and flew up. The flying spell I asked Maven for after coming back from the Underworld was a 1st Order Spell and it was apparently pretty easy to learn. 'Oh the wasted time.' I placed my hands behind my head and floated in the air, enjoying the beautiful view (she also gave me a spell that keeps the temperature and air around me to ground levels).

"…Are you done yet?" Adrian's voice rang out and I hummed.

"In a second, you should really come up here man, the view is amazing."

"You do realize we just came from a mountain that sticks out of orbit, right?" I could hear the amusement in Adrian's voice.

"That's different. Someone else made that mountain; I'm doing my own Superman thing."

"…Who?" I chuckled at his confusion and brought my communication ring closer.

"Never mind, have you found the tribe yet?" I asked as I twirled in the air.

"Not yet. No one in town seems to know anything about the location and Melissa can't find it either. You seeing anything up there?" I looked down at his question and I could see a small town. It was an ordinary spot with open fields around it, a forest and another town a couple of kilometers away from it.

"Nope, I got nothing from up here."

"Hmmm, alright then. Come back and we'll try to get in contact with the other group, see how they're doing."

"Roger." I cut the link and went back to enjoying the view. Why were we in an unremarkable corner of Scandinavia where nothing's happening? Because Zeth's Generals have finally left his dimension and were spotted here.

The Werewolf Lord and Descendant of Lycaon, Ferox was one such general. If you haven't heard the story, Lycaon was the ruler of a kingdom called Arcadia and he offered the roasted flesh of his son to Zeus, to test if he really was a God. This backfired miserably and Zeus transformed Lycaon into a werewolf for the rest of his days…until the good old Biblical God found him and fused him with a God blade called Ame-no-Ohabari to create the Longinus Sacred Gear, Canis Lykaon (now that's a back story).

Thing is, Ferox isn't the one we were going after. We were tracking down another General that was close by, the Dark Elf King Talien. And we may need to go through a tribe of cannibal Elf dancers to get to him.

Yeah, let's backtrack a little.

* * *

**1 Day Earlier, Top of Olympus**

Inside the training room of Olympus, our group was huddled together in the resting corner. I was sitting on the couch with Maven and Melissa while Adrian sat on a stool in front of me. Vargas and Samantha were standing on the side, listening in as I told my adventures in the Underworld. Aindrea was wiping his spear on the side, pretending not to listen.

"…That's how I got the property deed to the land and built my first mercenary base there. I also met a Devil named Dean and convinced him to join my association. I think that's-oh yeah, I also got an incredibly powerful female Devil to dress up in pink, cartoony outfits and awakened her inner magical girl…Okay I'm done." I finished my summary and leaned back on the couch. They were really quiet but I think they were impressed.

"Pierce…what the fuck…" Though by Adrian's response, I could be wrong. The Emissary rubbed his forehead in frustration while Vargas turned to Samantha. He put his hand out.

"Pay up." Vargas smirked and Samantha pouted in response before rubbing her space ring. She took out a bundle of money and placed it on his hand. I stared at the exchange.

"You guys want to explain that?" I pointed at Vargas as he pocketed the money and he shrugged.

"We bet on whether you would return without doing something dangerous and/or ridiculous. I apparently know you the best." Vargas said as he caught a bundle of money Melissa threw at him and walked up to Aindrea, who grumbled as he handed over his share. I looked at my girlfriend.

"I bet you would mess with a Devil lord or 2." She shrugged.

"I thought you would piss off a noble clan. I was partly right." Aindrea commented from the side.

"I bet you would face off against an army of Devils to save a bunch of innocent children." I made a weird face at Samantha's oddly accurate guess.

"I guessed all three." Vargas said as he counted his money.

"…Can we all focus." Adrian deadpanned. "Pierce, you're the only guy I know that can be sent to deliver a letter and end up starting a civil war."

"Hey now, I didn't start anything!...I think." Honestly, with how I changed the fate of the Buné Clan, the odds that I kick started the Civil War earlier than expexted isn't impossible (not that I would admit it). "Besides, does it really matter?"

"…No, actually it doesn't." Adrian relented after a second and stood up. "I would just like it if you didn't do things that put you in such danger without us around. What would have happened if this Sirzechs guy wasn't there to rescue you? You were in real danger and we may have never seen you again." I kept silent at Adrian's words before smiling.

"I see you haven't run out of sap since I left." I stood up and patted Adrian's shoulder. "You're right; I should have thought things through and left when I had the chance. I'm sorry."

"…Really?" Adrian blinked at words, surprised at my understanding. I nodded.

"Yeah, you guys are my friends and I definitely wouldn't want you guys disappearing on me. So, from now on I promise…whenever I do stupid shit, I'll make sure you guys know about it!" I smiled confidently as the others stared.

"…How about you just stop doing idiotic things?" Adrian deadpanned to which I scoffed.

"Adrian please, let's be realistic here." He shook his head in mirth.

"I figured as much. Well, I'm glad you came back safe Pierce, and just in time too."

"In time for what?"

"The Generals have been spotted." Adrian started explaining that Zeth's generals have finally left his dimension and that they changed up their routine. They seemed to now move in pairs and that 2 generals were spotted in Scandinavia. While Adrian was confident in our strength, facing two Ultimate Class beings at the same time was a bit too risky and that we were going to work with another party. We were to meet them tomorrow to talk battle plans and that everyone should rest up. Adrian left to make the arrangements and everyone went off to do their own things.

"Hey!" Melissa said in surprise as I lifted her up and carried her bridal style.

"You were oddly quiet after my story, what's wrong?" I said as I sat down on the couch once again. She looked away from me.

"Nothing's wrong…" Even without Chi, I could tell she was lying and titled my head at her.

"Melissa, something's bothering you and unfortunately, we're in a healthy relationship where we talk about our feelings. Now do you want to tell me or do I need to…force it out of you?" She made a weird face at that.

"What the hell does that mean?" Melissa watched as I rubbed my space ring and took out a single long feather. Her reaction was instantaneous. Her eyes widened and she tried to stand up but I held her close, not letting her go. "You wouldn't dare." She narrowed her eyes at me and I smirked.

"Oh really?" I waved my hand and a magic circle appeared, spinning ominously (yes, Maven taught me that spell too). She struggled against my hold and we locked eyes, waiting for the other to make a move. We stood there in silence for a minute before I sighed and deactivated the magic circle. "…I'm sorry."

"What?" Melissa was confused at my apology.

"I said I'm sorry. Really I am. I shouldn't have taken that mission without at least messaging you, I could have been killed against Ethan and what happened in the capital wasn't any better…I'm sorry." Jokes aside, my actions in the Underworld went beyond my typical stupidity and into the realm of recklessness. While fighting Tylin and his silver Devils was out of my control (I mean what was I supposed to do, let those kids die?), I chose to go after the Stray Exorcists. I had no idea about their strengths and weaknesses but I still decided to hunt them down. I put myself in unnecessary danger and that's on me, not to mention, I should have just escaped when Tylin ran but I didn't want to leave it at that. 'Thinking on your mistakes sucks…' I internally groaned as Melissa looked me in the eyes and placed her hand on my cheek.

"I'm not mad that you accepted that job Pierce. Or the fact that you fought those Devils, I can't be when you had a pretty good reason." Melissa said this with a wry smile. "I'm just worried. I know you will always do things that put you in danger but it eats me up when you have to do those things alone. I should have gone with you."

"Yeah, that's also my fault."

"I know." She said with a smirk. "But I didn't argue against it. From now on, whenever you do something dangerous, I want to be there when it happens. Better to be dumb together than alone, right?" I blankly stared at her bright smile and pulled her into a deeper hug.

"You're the best, you know that?"

"You bet your ass." Melissa wrapped her arms around my neck and we sat there hugging, enjoying each other's warmth. She was right. I know that I wouldn't want her doing stuff that was incredibly dangerous on her own and that works both ways. I'm just glad this didn't become a big issue.

'Speaking of issues…' I looked around and found that the rest of the team left the training area, effectively leaving us alone. "Hey Melissa, since we're alone…I was wondering…" Melissa deadpanned.

"No, Pierce. Wait until we get back to our room."

"What!? No! That's not what I-Actually yes, I would like that but that's not what I'm talking about." I smiled at my girlfriend's knowing look. "I was hoping to talk about Maven."

"What about her?"

"Well…" How _do_ I start this? "…Can we talk about the lunch box?"

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Did you enjoy it?"

"…Not what I wanted to focus on but yeah, it was pretty good. I heard you helped her make it."

"She wanted to know what you liked and I was free so I thought I would help her out." She shrugged nonchalantly at the fact.

"…And why exactly did you help her?"

"What do you mean? Why wouldn't I?" Melissa asked in an innocent tone.

'Is she doing this on purpose?' I looked over her face but found no playfulness or deceit. "Okay, then let me be blunt. You know Maven has feelings for me right?" I got to the point and Melissa nodded.

"So?"

"…What do you mean so!? Helping a girl that likes your boyfriend is pretty weird! And coming from me that means something!" I know they're friends and all but this makes no sense. "…Melissa, I'm going to take a guess here and I'm most likely wrong but I'm going to say it anyway…Please don't hit me."

"Okay?" The Shadow Yokai watched me with confusion as I took a deep breath and looked her in the eye.

"Are you okay with me dating other women?" I went for it and closed my eyes in preparation for the hit.

"Sure." Though it never came and I blinked at how quick she answered.

"…And by that you mean?"

"I mean that I'm fine with you dating other women." She clarified and I nodded along.

"Okay then." I leaned back against the couch, processing the new information. "Quick question though…what the hell?" While a part of me was screaming to "take this golden pass and run", I had to ask. From anyone else this would have seemed like a trap, but she's not like that so I was honestly stumped.

"It's not strange. My mother manages my father's mistresses and they get along well enough, I even call most of them aunt. Yokai's practice polygamy to increase their clan size and many women choose strong males to have powerful descendants." Melissa explained the inner workings of supernatural mating and most of it actually made sense. Picking a strong mate was an ideology that's existed since the dawn of time, be it in animals, insects, or normal humans. It was even more extreme in the supernatural world where strength was everything and with the Yokai's rate of birth, they had to try all avenues to continue the bloodline.

"…So you're with me because of my strength?" It was more a feeling of curiosity than pain. I did like Melissa for her cheerful personality, I did find her very attractive and that was a leading factor in wanting to be with her (I'm shallow, sue me). The smack to my head said it all.

"You deserved to be hit for that." I rubbed my head at Melissa's scolding and timidly nodded. "Sure, your strength was something I liked, I like spending time with you more. Your fun and you don't let your power get to your head, that's a plus in my book. Though you could dial back with the weirdness."

"Are you going to stop irrationally loving food?"

"…Never."

"Then we're at an impasse." I shrugged and she hummed in agreement. "But are you really okay with that, I don't want to make you feel like you need to follow what your parents do." At the end of the day, I wasn't going to make her feel like shit for being with other women.

"Well, my mom never seemed to have a problem with it and I like Maven, she's awesome. But…" Melissa smiled and rubbed my chest. "If you ever stop paying attention to me in favor of the others then…" Her hand lowered and hovered over my crotch, making swiping motions. I got the message.

"…You know that thing I said about a healthy relationship?" I nervously chuckled

"Uh-huh." Melissa gave me a dry look before smiling and grabbing my face, kissing me. I kissed her back and we made out for a while before separating, Melissa resting her head against mine. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." I smiled and brought her close, hugging her. It's barely been over a day since I left, but all the chaos I had to deal with made it feel far longer. I should really get some sleep. I moved to get up and set Melissa aside. "I'm going to bed, see you tomorrow okay?"

"Okay." She nodded and I kissed her goodbye, walking down the halls to my room. I don't know how long I was resting in the Gremory house hold but it clearly wasn't enough because my body was still sore. While the majority of my injuries were healed thanks to my Chi, it couldn't do anything about my fatigue and mental state. As I reached the door to my room, I rubbed the base of my spine, right where it impacted against the castle walls.

"Damn Grayfia, you hit hard…" I grimaced as the damage done by the silver haired Devil was the one part of my body that my Chi was still healing. 'I wonder if she got my message?' I didn't want her to feel bad over what she did but I'm pretty sure she still did. Is it weird that I'm worried about the feelings of a Devil that knocked me out?

"Who's Grayfia?" I didn't get the chance to think about it however because Melissa's voice rang out and I turned around, seeing my girlfriend's imploring eyes.

"...She's a Devil that I worked with. But more importantly, why are you-"

"I'm a Chi-user too Pierce and I could tell you're a little out of it." Melissa smirked at my reaction for being caught and opened the door. "That's why I'm going to nurse you back to health!" I made an amused smile at her claim.

"And how exactly are you going to th-" I stopped, remembering her effective way of healing me. Melissa must have noticed my face since she smiled and walked in the room, playfully glancing back at me as she entered. I didn't react until a minute later. "…Who needs sleep anyway." I walked into the room after her and slammed the door behind me, a stupid grin on my face.

After the conversation earlier, I thought she would still have some hesitation but…I think everything will be okay.

* * *

**6 Hours Later, Side Garden**

Athena's foot slammed against my chest, sending me flying back and hitting the ground. Waiting for my breath to come back to me, I rolled to the side when it did and dodged Athena's downward fist. Ignoring how it left a small crater, I sent a roundhouse kick to her face but she blocked it and held on to my leg. The Goddess of Wisdom flung me far away and I smashed against a large tree, leaving a me-sized indent in the bark. I quickly leaned to the left, dodging Athena's fist and punched her in the gut. That did nothing however and she punched my face, sending me smashing through the tree.

'And the universe is in balance…' That was all that went through my mind as I blinked the white away and tried to stand up. And fuck was it an effort. After a session of Bouchujutsu with Melissa, my body was once more in tip top condition and I was ready to take on the world. Athena must have somehow known that and came to find me, telling me that we would continue our training. I tried to ask her what she's been up to since I left but the Goddess of Wisdom just gave a "not much" and dragged me to our usual training grounds. While I was confused about her lackluster attitude, I figured she had a bad day and didn't ask.

That was my first mistake.

"Again." Athena sternly said and got into a fighting pose, I groggily mimicked it. She lunged at me with speed that I could have barely intercepted but I didn't and ended up having my legs swiped. I fell to the ground and Athena kicked me in the chest, forcing me to block. I skidded across the grass and quickly got up, just in time to see a fist going for my face. I leaned to the side and tried to grab it but Athena pulled it back just in time and kicked me in the waist. My face was once again reacquainted with the ground and I groaned.

"Keep it up! You're doing great!" Mistake number 2 was currently watching all this happen on the side. I glared over in the direction of a smirking Aphrodite and she was sitting on a bench, petting a sleeping Jade. We met the Goddess of Beauty on the way here and she asked us what we were doing. She wanted to tag along to watch the training and I agreed easily enough, finding no problem with it.

I obviously don't think things through.

'Yes, the universe is very much back in balance.' I grunted and sat up, finding everything kind of funny. My girlfriend tells me she's fine with a polygamous relationship (never thought that'd be a thing), we have awesome sex, and now a couple hours later I'm getting my ass kicked by a Goddess in a bad mood while another watches. '…Okay fine, this is very funny.' I rolled to the side as Athena came at me with a Chi Sword and stood up.

"Focus." She warned and pointed her sword at me; I created my own. We clashed blades and Athena did not hold back on the sword play. Coming at angles that made me question if her arm hurt, I hardly blocked anything and was quickly hit on every corner of my body. The one sword swing I was able to block shattered my construct and left me defenseless to block the one aimed at my head (not like I was doing well anyway). I fell to the ground once more and laid there, fully exhausted.

"Pierce 0, Sexy War Goddess…what is it like 26?" Aphrodite cheerfully asked.

"Do you have nothing better to do?" I asked, irritation clear in my tone, and sighed at Aphrodite's "nope". I looked over at Athena as she dissolved her Chi Sword and cracked her neck. "Hey Athena…are you angry at me?" I hesitantly asked and she blankly stared down at me.

"Why would you think that?" She said it so neutrally but I could definitely feel some sarcasm in there.

"I'm going to take that as yes. Can I know why?"

"I'm not mad at you Pier-"

"She's upset that you didn't tell her about your fight with the Red Dragon." Aphrodite cut off her sister and told the truth.

"Aphrodite!" Athena blushed at my shock and admonished the Goddess of Beauty.

"She's also mad you didn't tell her that you were going to the Underworld."

"Aphrodite!" I stared at the Goddess of War as she huffed at her smirking sister and crossed her arms.

"…Awww." I blinked at Athena's glare and realized I said that out loud. "I mean not aww. I meant cute- no! That's not what I-" I stopped when Athena's glare became dry and lowered my head. "…I'm sorry."

"I'm really not mad Pierce, I'm just frustrated." Athena sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"I could help with that." Aphrodite offered which earned a bland look from Athena.

"I just wished you would think about how I felt. I'm your teacher…"

"Is that what you're going with?"

"…And your friend." Athena ignored Aphrodite and continued. "I know about the Heavenly Dragon's rivalry and how deadly they came to be, to those involved or not. Fine, you didn't need to tell me that I went to the Underworld but the Red Dragon Emperor is a whole other issue. Just the fact that you killed him will bring attention to you, not to mention the White Dragon coming after you just to prove a point. I had to find out from one of Hermes' men and you immediately left like nothing was wrong. Honestly, if there was anything to be upset about is that you went to gain outside help to track down the White Dragon Emperor. You didn't think to ask me for help? Did you think I would refuse?"

"What!? No! I mean…" I did think about asking her for help when Mephisto told me about my situation but… "You have your own problems; I didn't want to add my own to the pile." Athena eyes seemed to soften at that and she sighed.

"Look Pierce, I understand not bringing your problems to others and dealing with it yourself. And it would be _very_ hypocritical of me to chastise your decision to fight them when you're eventually going to face Zeth but you can ask for help." I kept quiet at Athena's words and suddenly felt stupid. The Goddess of Wisdom kneeled and placed a hand on my shoulder. "I don't call myself your teacher because I like the way it sounds. You can always ask me for help."

"…You got it Athena." I smiled at the Goddess and she smiled back, leaving us in a comforting silence.

"…So are you guys going to kiss and make up or…" Of course, Aphrodite had to speak up and ruin the moment, making Athena blush at her words.

"You know what, he's right! Do you have nothing else to do!?" The Goddess of Beauty's answer was the same as ever. I chuckled at their squabble and looked towards Athena.

"So we're good?" Athena stopped and looked back to me.

"Yes Pierce, we're good."

"Great…so can you take these off now?" I lifted my arms to Athena and pleaded. Yellow glowing markings were covering my forearms and they were the main cause of my grief. These were Gravity Marks that increased the weight of one section of my body or the entirety (pretty much what I remembered Sairaorg using to train). I asked Athena a long time ago if we could use these but she wanted to personally test my physical limit and go from there. That made sense so I waited and today was finally the day that she chose to put them on. Problem? They were cranked to an 11 and I could barely move, becoming a punching bag for the War Goddess.

"No." Athena shook her head. "Just because I was mad at you Pierce does not mean I abused the Gravity Marks. They're at a level where you can just barely move if you put in the effort but with time you can get used to them."

"And the reason I can't use Touki?"

"Touki vastly increases the physical capabilities of your base form. Training your normal body will in turn make the increase in power from Touki higher."

"Ah…" I finally understood and leaned back on the ground. "Good to know I won't be sporting bruises for the next couple of days for nothing." Athena had the decency to look sheepish.

"I may have gone a bit overboard…sorry." I told her it was fine and tossed my space ring at her. She caught it and looked at me in confusion.

"Check inside. First thing on the left." I instructed her and she rubbed the space ring, taking out a pair of bracers. They were light blue with intricate drawings like birds, deer, wolves, and they were magical too, fitting perfectly to anyone's wrists. "Souvenirs." I answered Athena's enquiring look. "I know they're not much but I hope you like them." To a Goddess like Athena, a pair of low level magical bracers were nothing but I figured I should bring something for her too (I already gave everyone else their souvenirs). She stared down at the bracers before smiling.

"No, they're very nice." Athena took off her current, much more expensive, golden bracers and put on the one I gave her. They glowed, fitting perfectly to the Goddess' wrist and she showed them off. "How do they look?"

"…They look great." She grinned at my honest answer and messed with her new accessory. Granted, Athena could make anything look good, the light blue bracers matched with her armor and eyes. Seeing the time, Athena called an end to our training and to meet her here tomorrow morning. I watched as she left the garden and stretched, groaning at the pain. I felt a weight on my head and looked up to see Aphrodite standing over me. Jade was now sitting on my head.

"Thank Zeus that's over with, she's been antsy and moody since you left. Anymore and I would had have to try and cheer her up. That would have been a drag."

"You really don't like working do you?" I asked which earned a scoff from the Goddess.

"When it comes to us Gods, you either become a workaholic like Amaterasu and The Biblical God or a lazy bum like Gautama. I'm graciously in the middle." Aphrodite seemed proud of that and puffed out her perfect chest. I made a weird expression.

'…The Buddha's a bum?' Shaking the thought out of my head, I asked a question I personally always wondered. "Why do you guys call him the Biblical God? I remember reading somewhere that his name was Yahweh, why don't you guys call him that?"

"That's from the Old Testament and if the sources are to be believed, then yes that is his real name. It's just that the New Testament messed up his name with our Greek text and that was never fixed."

"Whose fault is that?"

"Moses." I blinked at the answer.

'…I should really look up the history of this world.' With mythology being real, history was mostly the same but also incredibly different. "Wait, I thought he made the Old Testament."

"He did but before he died, he wanted to spread the Bible to other sections of the world and made a version of it in Koine Greek. It became pretty popular…the problem is that he butchered the language and messed up God's name. The guy who created the New Testament didn't know and rolled with it. Boy was he pissed." Aphrodite chuckled remembering the Biblical God's anger and embarrassment at the mistake.

"I bet." I smirked and stood up. "I should be on my way, the meeting's about to start." I started to make my way to the exit.

"Hey Pierce." Aphrodite spoke up and I turned back to look at her. Her face was solemn. "You know Athena isn't the only one you can go to for help, right?"

"…I know." I gave her a grateful smile and turned to leave. Right into Aphrodite's smiling face. "Whoa!" I stumbled back and looked at where she was a minute ago. "How did you-"

"That being said…" She outstretched her hand and gave me an expectant look. I stared down at the hand.

"Uhhh, what's-"

"Where's my souvenir?"

'…Oh shit.' I didn't get her one. I started to visibly sweat as she stood there waiting and tilted her head at me.

"You didn't forget about me did you?"

'Yes.' "No!" I hurriedly shook my head.

"Great!...So where is it?" I quickly rubbed my space ring at her question and tried to find something to give her. Grabbing onto the first thing that I felt, I pulled it out and held it. It was a maid outfit. From the store Grayfia and I went to shop at, in Lucifaad. I started to sweat for another reason. Before I could put it back, it disappeared and I turned to see it in Aphrodite's hands. The silence was deafening.

"You have a taste for the finer things I see." Aphrodite smirked and I tried my best to keep a straight face. By her laugh, I can tell I failed. She observed the outfit up and down before storing it away. "I've worn many things over the years but a maid outfit is not one of them."

"Uhhh…"

"Well, I guess there's a first time for everything."

"…Uhhh…" My brain was still trying to catch up. Aphrodite laughed at my expression and patted my head.

"Thanks for the gift; it's the most interesting one I've gotten in a while. And who knows, you just might get to see me in it." Aphrodite ended with that and left the side garden, leaving me still gobsmacked.

"…"

"…"

"…Huh." And the universe shifts.

* * *

**30 Minutes Later, Meeting Room**

"…Are you okay?" Vargas asked from his seat next to me. I was blankly staring out into space as the rest of the team were lazing around the room.

"I'm good. It's just been…a weird day."

"…So it's Tuesday?"

"Humph! Good one." I chuckled at his joke and looked over to the side. Melissa and Maven were talking in hushed voices in the corner. More than once did the mage look over at me before looking away. I could guess what they're talking about. "Hey Vargas, can I ask you a question?"

"Am I going to be confused by the end of it?"

"Most likely."

"…Go ahead."

"Have you ever wanted a harem, or been in a position to get one?" He leaned back at that and fell into thought. I didn't wait long before he answered.

"I've never had the opportunity to get one and I've never really wanted one. I like women but I'm more of a one woman kind of guy."

"So what, am I greedy for wanting more than one?" I never considered myself the paragon type and I'm very honest with my desires but I still felt kind of scummy. Vargas shook his head at that though.

"It's your life and you can do whatever you want. As long as your partner has no problem with it, and you take care of them equally, then I say go nuts." I thought about his words and nodded.

"Thanks man, you're a lot wiser then you look." Vargas proudly smiled at that.

"Yeah, well I have met lots of people and they-hey!" I chuckled as he finally heard what I said and blocked a punch meant for my shoulder. He grumbled for a second and I observed him curiously.

"So what about you?"

"Hm?"

"What lucky lady has the privilege of being pursued by our resident steel warrior?"

"…What?"

"Who do you like?" I bluntly asked and Vargas lowered his head. I waited patiently as he drummed his foot and after a minute, peeked over to a corner of the room. I followed his gaze and noticed the blond haired, book reading healer. She was happily humming as she flipped the page of her boo-are those tentacles?

I blinked and squinted, seeing that the cover of her book were indeed tentacles. She must have noticed our gazes because she looked at us and smiled, kindly waving. We waved back and she returned to her book, still humming. I looked over to the now still form of Vargas (who was slightly blushing) and then back to Samantha. I did this a few more times until I got it.

"Well well well…" I smirked at Vargas and he glared back.

"Don't."

"Hey man, there are worse choices and she's definitely worth it. Go for it!" I patted Vargas on the shoulder but he looked hesitant.

"I-I don't know."

"What do you mean? You know plenty. You've laughed with her, you've fought alongside her, and she definitely has enough personality for the two of you." Vargas gave me a bland look (Am I wrong?). "Go for it brother!"

"Hmmm…" He still looked hesitant.

"And not to be that guy but didn't you accept the mission to kill a God without hesitation? How did that not stop you but this does?"

"That's different…"

"How so?"

"It's easier to kill a God." Vargas gave that out and I blinked.

"I want to disagree with you but…every anime I've ever watched doesn't." I saw the odd look on Vargas' face and got back on topic. "But seriously, I would tell her how you-"

I didn't get to finish as the door to the meeting room opened and four people walked in. Three of them were male while the last one was female. Promising to finish this conversation later, we all stood up and went to meet the new arrivals.

"Are you Adrian?" A tall man with curly brown hair and a thin beard spoke up. He was fairly built and wore clothes that reminded me of a sailor. Adrian nodded.

"I'm Adrian, you're Odysseus?" I did a double take.

"Yes I am. It's an honor to-"

"Hold on." I cut off Odysseus. "Really? So what; are you his descendant or spirit inheritor?" Odysseus looked at Adrian in puzzlement but he just sighed and nodded.

"I'm his descendant."

"And you're Poseidon's emissary?" I made an amused smile at his nod. "…Really? No one finds this ironic?" I asked but no one reacted.

"…I thought it was too." A man with long brown hair and a handsome face raised his hand. I pointed at him. "But if you really want to see something ironic…" The man turned to his companion. He was a very large man with dense muscles, an average face, and he had tribal clothes. "This guy is half Cyclops."

"Really?!" I look up to the half man, half Cyclops in curiosity. "Are you related to that Cyclops that got his eye poked out by Odysseus?"

"…He's my ancestor." The Cyclops descendant's voice was quite soft and polite.

"And you have no problem traveling with his enemy's descendant?" I smiled at his shrug and turned to the last member. She was a short and beautiful woman with long black hair that actually seemed to shine in the light (definitely magic). "What about you?"

"I'm the descendant of Circe's and a half Fairy. Celica." I shook her outstretched hand and turned to the others.

"Phonemes." The Cyclops descendant bowed.

"Achilles." He smiled at the way my eyes widened. "His spirit inheritor." I looked him up and down before stopping on his feet.

"…Okay, I have to ask-"

"No! My weakness is not my Achilles!" Phonemes and Celica laughed at his outburst. "Why is that the first thing everyone asks!?"

"Because one of Greek's greatest heroes thought it was smart to make his weakness his name?" Celica smirked at Achilles' glare.

"That wasn't actually his weakness though!" I was surprised by that.

"It wasn't?"

"No! Some stupid story teller just thought the arrow that hit his Achilles was what took him down! Selectively ignoring the dozens of others that were sticking out his body and even then he kept on fighting! I mean, the arrow that struck his Achilles wasn't even the last arrow!" Achilles huffed in exhaustion from his rant, Phonemes and Celica patting his shoulders in sympathy (this was probably a regular occurrence).

"Okay…but I thought 6 people were needed for an Emissaries' group. Where are the oth-"

"Pierce." I stopped and looked at Adrian rubbing his forehead. He looked tired. "I know you have a lot of questions but can we please get back to the topic at hand?" I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment and apologized. We all met in the middle of the room and Adrian stepped forward, placing down 2 runes. Tapping on one, it lit up and a hologram appeared above the rune. A man with dark brown hair, a handsome face and red eyes appeared in the hologram. "This is Ferox, the Werewolf Lord and the descendant of Lycaon." I quirked a brow at that.

"That king who roasted his son and tried to get Zeus to eat it?"

"Yes, the same one." Adrian nodded.

"Yet you don't know who Kush-nada-hime is…" Maven said in a low tone and I rolled my eyes, nudging her foot. She nudged back.

"Well he's been spotted in Scandinavia, Finland more specifically."

"What's there that he could want?" Odysseus asked and Adrian rubbed the rune. Another image appeared, a pack of wolves with fur that looked like a mix of shadows and iron.

"There's a clan of wolves in Finland known as Malmr Wolfs and they could be Ferox's target but there's no saying for sure."

"How long ago were they spotted?" Achilles asked.

"This report came in this morning so a couple of hours at best."

"Well alright then!" I stood up and smiled. "Let's go kill a werewolf! I'll go get another coat made!" I turned and walked to the exit, planning to go ask the Olympus tailor to make me another leather coat (I never fixed the shredded one in Constantinople).

"Um, Pierce?" Adrian's voice stopped me however and I turned back. "We're not going after Ferox."

"…We're not?"

"No."

"…Aww man, I wanted to kill a werewolf." I slumped and walked back to my chair, glumly sitting down. "So who are we going after?" Adrian rubbed the second rune. An image of a tall, grey skinned man appeared. He had pointy ears, yellow eyes and he was wearing thick black robes. He had long black hair and he was handsome.

"This is the Dark Elf King Talien and he's our target."

"What is he the king of?" Vargas asked.

"He is supposedly the king of a section of Svartalfheim."

"Svartalfheim?" Aindrea frowned at the mentioned world. "I've heard that the Norse Elves were currently in a civil dispute. Why would he be one of Zeth's Generals?"

"Who knows." Adrian shrugged. "Maybe he wants Zeth's help with the dispute in Svartalfheim? That's what Lady Athena and Lord Apollon think."

"Wait, I thought Odin governs the Nine worlds. How is there a civil dispute? More importantly, does the Norse mythology actually have nine worlds because that just doesn't sound fair." I asked and Maven answered.

"They do and it's not really unfair because the Gods can create another dimension as large as Olympus but they're fine with this." I nodded along at her explanation. "And Odin has chosen to stay out of the fight but no one knows why."

"Whatever the reason, they're in Scandinavia and Talien has been spotted around Denmark. Odysseus and his team are to track down Ferox while we hunt Talien. If either team needs help don't hesitate to ask." The meeting ended there and the team leaders swapped contact information for the coming mission.

"So what's in Denmark that Talien wants?" I asked as Odysseus' team left the room and Adrian checked the rune.

"The report says there's a tribe of Light Elves that reside there…

"Oh that doesn't sound so-"

…And they're known for luring bystanders with their seductive dances before capturing them and eating them."

"…"

"…"

"...Oh."

* * *

**Back to the Present**

'Well there goes that cliché.' I thought as I floated back to the ground and walked to our new hideout. 'What are the odds he's just a Danish fan?' I opened the door and everyone was already here. Adrian was currently talking into his communication ring.

"Enjoyed the flight?" Melissa asked as she leaned by the door and I smiled.

"Hell yeah. It's really beautiful up there; you should really see it sometime."

"When I grow wings." She finished with that and we paid attention to the conversation.

"So what's happening so far?" Adrian asked,

"We found tracks that may belong to the wolf clan. We'll follow them and get back to you when we find Ferox. How are you doing?" Odysseus' voice came through the ring.

"We haven't found anything yet but Maven should almost be finished with that spell. Thanks for that."

"No problem, Celica has past experience with the elves so she had that spell on hand."

"Hopefully it will lead us straight to Talien." Adrian talked a bit more with Odysseus before hanging up and looking at Maven. "How are you doing, can you learn it?" Maven nodded at Adrian's question before flipping a page. She was reading a magic book that had leaves and vines over it.

"I'm almost done actually, it's more complex than I thought it would be but it shouldn't take much longer." I leaned over to get a peek at the book and I had to blink at what I was seeing. A bunch of muddled symbols that made no sense to me littered the pages and I looked at Adrian.

"What the hell is that?"

"That's a Fairy spell from Celica and it can track down Light Elves. She also said it was a 3rd Order spell."

"How is that a thing?"

"Elves and Fairies are closely related to each other." Maven said as she stood up. "They're both attuned to nature, are reclusive, and their magic systems are quite similar."

"Ah…" I nodded. "So it's kind of like how an Angel could track a Devil because of their shared history and magic?"

"Yes, that's a pretty good comparison." Maven put the book away and walked towards the door. "Come on, I'll cast the spell now." We followed the mage out of the house and stopped at the front lawn. Being out in the current side, there was barely anyone in the fields so Maven didn't hesitate to cast her spell. She waved her hand and a green magic circle appeared in front of her. _**"Iter Autem Lux Dryadales." **_A bright light came out from the magic circle and it formed into a wisp. It floated in place for a bit, looking around curiously like a child in a new place. I smiled.

"It's kind of cut-whoa!" Then the wisp flew in one direction, becoming a blur and quickly going out of sight. We chased after it, running through the open fields and passing by a couple of old houses. After running for about 5 minutes, we finally caught up with the wisp as it hovered in the air. The area was oddly shaped as two large mounds were on each end of the area and the wisp seemed to enjoy encircling these 2 large standing stones. The stones had old Nordic symbols over them and they seemed ancient.

"What are these?" Maven stepped forward at my question and traced her hand along the stones, observing the text.

"These are the Jelling Runestones. They were created by the ancient king of Denmark, Gorm the Old in memory of his wife. Except…" Maven hesitated and looked around.

"What?" She didn't answer as the mage continued to look around. We all watched as she circled around the Runestones before stopping. She stared down at the ground.

"Pierce, Samantha, Aindrea…sense down." I looked at the other 2 in puzzlement and we did what she said, sensing the ground with our Spiritual Energy.

'What the…' I gasped as I sensed a massive dormant spell underground with the Jelling Runestones as the nexus. Except that "dormant" spell was recently activated by the signs of it being shifted.

"What's going on?" Melissa asked in confusion as we looked at each other and Maven resumed touching the stones.

"There's a magic spell in the ground and someone recently used it because it looks way too old to be made from a magician from this age." I explained to the three non magic users of the group. Magic, much like technology, evolved with time and the Magical Languages used in the spell were an Old Norse variant. Not something you would see in recent Norse magic.

"Does it have something to do with Talien or the Elf clan?" Adrian asked.

"We're about to find out." Maven waved her hands and Norse Magic circles appeared around her. She started chanting in an Old Norse language and the Runestones reacted, the text glowing white. The 2 mounds sunk a little into the ground and a split went right down the middle between the two, opening wide. We had to jump out of the way as Maven floated up in the air and the two Runestones shifted next to the opening. After the rumbling stopped, we saw a staircase leading down into a deep hole appeared.

"...Ladies first?" Maven floated back to the ground and we walked down the steps into the abyss.

* * *

**Deep Underground**

In a dusty, abandoned room laid 2 stone coffins. In one lay a dried out corpse wearing ancient Nordic clothing and a crown sat on the body's head. In the coffin next to it laid another, less shriveled body. Wearing traditional, red Nordic clothing that did not fade with time and a long head dress, the stone coffin was more elevated compared to the first coffin. These were the bodies of Gorm the Old and his wife, Thyra. Wanting to be buried alongside his deceased wife, Gorm had his coffin brought down to forever rest with her and for centuries they had not been disturbed.

"...That didn't take long." A light skinned, pointy eared woman spoke as she ripped off the head of Gorm the Old. She observed the head for a second before taking off the crown and tossing the head aside. She twirled the crown in her hand.

"Lord Talien, should we go intercept them?" Another light skinned woman with pointy ears spoke, kneeling in front of the Dark King. He didn't react and stared down at the corpse of the late Thyra. Looking over the body slowly, his gaze stopped on her finger and smiled.

"So it was true..." Talien spoke in a deep voice as he reached for her hand and picked it up. He gently took off the ring that was on her finger and brought the ring closer, scrutinizing it. His smile only got wider.

"That's what you came all this way for? An old ring?" The woman with the crown now on her head wasn't impressed. This Dark Elf had spent a better part of 2 days negotiating with her village elder to follow him and give information on a certain relic. And this was the relic? An old ring? "I think our village leader made a mistake."

"Watch your tongue Cadence! Lord Talien knows what he's doing!" The other Elf in the room chastised her words.

"Oh really? Taking his side so soon after meeting him? Where's the history gone?" Cadence shook her head and mockingly smiled. "Then again, a spineless follower is actually what he seems to be looking for."

"Enough Cadence." The other Elf narrowed her eyes.

"How about you come here and make-" Cadence didn't get to finish as the magic power in the area skyrocketed and it got harder to breathe for both of them. The stone around them started to form cracks and the bodies in the coffins rumbled, falling apart from the power. After 10 seconds passed, the surge stopped and the two Light Elves could breathe again, huffing. Talien never even looked in their direction. Placing the old ring on his palm, the Elf King slowly closed his hand and squeezed. Crunching was heard in the quiet tomb and he opened his hand a second later, countless small stone fragments remaining.

All expect for one large piece.

"Hm?" Cadence observed the ring fragment, noticing how it actually pulsed with magic power and it definitely wasn't doing that before. "What is that?"

"A fragment of the Andvaranaut." Both Elves were shocked at that. Talien played with the ring fragment for a second before looking up. "But first...let's deal with our pest problem." He stretched out his hands and black smoke spread out from him. Dark blue magic circles appeared around him and Talien started chanting. The smoke seeped into the walls and into the ground, even wrapping the corpses of the couple. Talien finished his chant and looked up once more, his yellows eye glowing.

_**"Cecidit Autem Martio May!"**_ Then the rumbling began.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

"Annddd...there's more stairs." I sighed as another set of stairs leading down appeared. We walked down the first pair of stairs we found and reached an old burial chamber with countless coffins within. We slowly explored the space, not knowing if Talien or anyone under him was here but we found nothing. Choosing to go deeper, we had to walk down another flight of stairs to the next level. Then another. Then another. This was the fourth flight of stairs we had to go down. I was over it. 'How big did this Gorm guy want his wife's grave to be?' It was a nice gesture but that gesture was starting to irritate me. 'And Talien may not even be-'

Que rumbling.

"!" I watched in shock as the room shook and black smoke started coming out the cracks of the floor.

_**"Praesidio muros."**_ Before I could activate Touki, Samantha casted her spell and covered us all in a yellow barrier. The smoke, however, seemed to ignore us and spread out in all directions, being sucked into the coffins on the side.

"What is that?" I asked as more smoke disappeared into the coffins and soon enough, all the smoke cleared out. Samantha put down her barrier after seeing nothing happening and we looked around. We jumped when one coffin's lid popped off and a shriveled hand grabbed the edges. '...Oh hell no...' I watched in shock as a shriveled black corpse slowly sat up in the coffin and looked over to us, white light in it's eye sockets. It growled.

Then my fist connected.

"Oh hell fucking no!" I screamed as I punched the zombie with a Seismic Fist and it's head blew up, ash flying everywhere. I huffed as the corpse fell back in the coffin and turned back to the group. They all looked at me with odd expressions. "...I am not dealing with a Walking Dead experience today."

"...Wha-" They didn't get to finish because the rest of the coffins opened up and all the corpses in them slowly crawled. Taking out my sword, I stood next to the other's and cautiously observed the zombies.

"Well I guess that answers whether Talien is here or not. What are these things?"

"Draugr." Maven spoke as she lifted her staff. "They're corpses animated by Black magic and their strength matches the one they had in life, depending on how much energy was used."

"And if they bite you?"

"...Pierce, I wouldn't recommend being bitten by _anything_. Why would you ask now?"

"..."

"..."

"...You know what, that's actually a good que-" Then the Draugrs rushed at us.

* * *

And done. Pierce hunts down his third General and faces the legion of the dead. Here's hoping zombie infection isn't a thing in DxD. Now I know some people will be upset for how easy I made Pierce's route to a harem and all I can say is...eh. I honestly was not a fan of the constant cock blocking and jealous bouts that happened among Issei's harem and I was not going to attempt to replicate that, that would have been a cringe fest. So I did the next best thing(in my opinion), have Pierce and Melissa talk about it like adults and make sure no problems would arise. I never understood why Issei didn't do that; I get his trauma from Raynare made him fearful of the girl's true feelings and it is a Ecchi comedy but come on man (it's also never implied that Rias and Issei have sex and that's a shame in itself). Rambling aside, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	28. Chapter 27

_**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**_

**HiragaSaito16:** Athena's not in love with Pierce (not yet anyway). As a long lived Goddess of Wisdom, she has met many humans, both good and bad so she's not some young girl who will easily fall in love but she does enjoy being around Pierce. He's honest (a bit too much sometimes), chill, doesn't like throwing his weight around, and if push comes to shove, will fight for the people he cares about with his life. He's not some ambitious ruler or warrior who loves fighting, he's just a guy going through life and trying to have fun. So yeah, Athena isn't in love but Pierce is slowly getting there.

**Bridd**: Look man, I'm just going with the flow and writing what I find interesting. I don't have this big laid out plan for what I want for Pierce; thank you for putting so much thought into my story but you're overthinking it. I've made plenty of memorable moments with the non-harem OCs, they are there you just have to pay attention. By the way, this isn't one of those (I'm sorry for my French) garbage Wuxia stories where the male protagonist is the only male in the story to have a happy life, get the girl, and become powerful. I'll give plenty of love to my other OCs like Adrian, Vargas, and Aindrea and that's how it should be; people that try to make their male protagonist the only winner in their stories are bad writers (in my opinion).

* * *

**Chapter 27: Ancient Kings**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD. The OC's are mine.

...It's weird not seeing a funny disclaimer ain't it.

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Asgard**

The sun reigned high in the sky, casting a warm glow all over the ancient fortress of the Norse Gods. The center of the Norse Pantheon and the most famous world amongst the nine, Asgard was a beautiful place. Massive stone walls surrounded the majestic city with them reaching hundreds of feet; it had countless protection spells from every branch of magic on it. A wide array of buildings littered the inside, with certain areas having tall modern looking towers to small, wooden homes made for a Nordic feel. Brick roads could be seen in the city with many citizens (worshipers that died and were given entry into Asgard) walking and living their daily lives. In the center of the city lay a huge hall, this was Valhalla. The home of Odin and the resting space of the warriors that fought and died in his name, the Einherjars. Constant partying could be heard within the hall and above the main room was a small office. Inside sat a woman behind a desk with a bunch of papers on it. She was a beautiful woman with light blue air, a full figure and was wearing a Norse dress. This was the youngest Valkyrie to become Chief in the history of Asgard, Brynhildr.

"…Damn you Audhild…Damn you!" And she was currently cursing her predecessor to every version of Hell in DxD. "You knew it would be like this didn't you!? You must be laughing at me now aren't you!?" Brynhildr yelled in anger but all she got was silence from the empty room, causing her to sigh and slam her head against the desk. Which ended up tipping the papers over and they fell on the floor, making her sigh again.

Yeah, this was not her day.

'…I want to go to bed…' Brynhildr thought this in exhaustion and wondered where it all went wrong. Of course, she knew exactly where. Being originally an orphan, Brynhildr never had a parental figure in her life so she turned to the Valkyries for admiration and entered Norse school to become one. She was especially a fan of the Chief of the Valkyries and strongest in Asgard. While she was at the bottom of her class in the beginning, for her poor swordsmanship and magic control, that never kept Brynhildr down. Studying late nights on both magic theory and sword play, she pushed herself to the limit. Training until her palms bled from swinging her sword and cramming so much Magical Knowledge that she periodically got migraines, Brynhildr eventually graduated at the top of her class. She joined the Valkyrie squadron and met her hero, making a great first impression.

The leader took Brynhildr under her wing and trained her, grooming her to become the next Chief. Years went by and after many campaigns in the name of the Norse Gods, Brynhildr got her wish. Being nominated by her mentor, she competed in the tournament to select the next Chief Valkyrie and won with flying colors. Her mentor was incredibly proud. She threw a party in celebration and finally gave up the name Brynhildr to her, reusing her past name Audhild.

'I regret everything.' Brynhildr groaned and lifted her head, a paper stuck to her face. She ripped it off, seeing it was describing a man that lived a peaceful life and died calmly in bed. She threw it in a basket labeled "Niflheim" and the paper glowed before disappearing, the soul was now on its way to the icy Norse Hell. While some would find that unfair, you could also argue that the man worshipped the Norse Gods but never involved himself in battles and that was just setting yourself up for failure (the Norse Pantheon were well known for being straightforward with their worshippers and what they have to do to end up where, so that was mainly on him).

This became a regular thing for Brynhildr, constantly looking through the files of the souls that came to Asgard and choosing what realm they were sent to. While this was the job for all the Valkyries, Brynhildr became the main officiator for the bulk of the souls. Such was the job of the Chief Valkyrie. Worst part? Brynhildr got the position a couple of months ago and the next tournament for the title of Chief was in a hundred years.

And she was already bored.

"…Fuck this!" Brynhildr stood up and made for the exit, planning to take an early break. She left her office and made her way down the majestic halls of Valhalla. Loud noises could be heard as she walked further and came to a pair of double doors. They were overly large with golden Nordic runes over them but Brynhildr didn't stop to admire them and waved her hand. The large doors opened and an incredibly wide hall was revealed. The hall was larger than a football field with golden pillars holding up the roof, decorations like shields, swords, and animal skins hanging on the walls. It was a beautiful sight.

Then a chair flew at her. Not skipping a beat, Brynhildr caught the chair and set it down in one swift movement. She looked at where it came from with a bored face and shook her head at what she was seeing. Two men were wrestling in between the long tables and they were really getting into it, throwing punches and kicks. The surrounding Einherjars just hollered and laughed at the spectacle, yelling jeers at both combatant's prowess. Which in turn caused both men to fight harder and the jeers to become louder. It was a vicious cycle.

"Hey!" Brynhildr wouldn't have bothered on any other day but she was bored and annoyed and needed to vent in a healthy way. So she walked over to the fighting men and grabbed the collar of one, flinging him a dozen meters in one direction. Seeing his opponent gone, the man turned to the Valkyrie and threw a punch. One that she easily dodged and countered, landing a fist square on the man's nose. He stumbled back in pain and his nose bled but he ignored it and tried to tackle the Valkyrie. She hopped over the man and kicked his head, sending him smashing into a table. The other men laughed as the man tried to stand and fell on his ass, his eyes swimming from the hit. Brynhildr padded herself down. "Are you calm now?"

"Damn woman you hit hard!" The Einherjar grumbled and struggled to stand. "Women shouldn't be so violent! You should be at home waiting for your husband with a full meal and mead!" A wave of agreement came from the surrounding observers and Brynhildr raised an unimpressed brow.

"That's funny since I can kick your ass from here to Jötunheim and still be able to cook. What do you bring to the table?" Brynhildr smirked at the way the warrior's face went red and the laughs from the surrounding men. He got up angrily and took out his sword, rushing at Brynhildr. She got out her own sword nonchalantly and parried the reckless slashing of the Einherjar. Dodging a downward slash, she cut his wrist and he dropped his weapon. She swept his legs, making him fall to the ground with a thud and she placed her blade at his neck. The man looked up defiantly at Brynhildr and she smiled at this. Sheathing her sword, she grabbed the man's arm and pulled him to his feet. "At least you have a pair of stones to go with that bark." She smacked the Einherjar's back and he stumbled. "Now go to a healer to fix yourself up, you look like a mess. You too!" Brynhildr pointed to the man she threw a while ago and they grumpily agreed, leaving the hall to find a healer.

"Always the straightforward approach huh Brynhildr?" A man eating mutton smirked on the side.

"We're Norse; straightforwardness is our way of life." Brynhildr snorted at the words. "And you guys only understand punches and kicks so what can you do?"

"True enough!" The man laughed. "But you still can't beat an Einherjar in a drinking fight."

"Oh really? Want to put your money where your mouth is?" Brynhildr smirked as the man motioned towards the table in a welcoming manner. Not 10 minutes later, the Chief Valkyrie was knee deep in mead and dozens of Einherjars were passed out drunk while she kept drinking (and that was supernatural mead too!). The party kept going as more food and challengers came to Brynhildr. This was a regular occurrence in Valhalla so no one batted an eye to the Chief Valkyrie being there. Though the drunk Einherjar that was sent flying half way across the hall because he tried to get grabby with Brynhildr brought a round of laughs.

"And another goes down!" Someone yelled as an abnormally large Einherjar went down with a red face and quickly started to snore.

"Next!" Brynhildr wiped her mouth of mead stains and raised a cup to the other challengers. She smirked when none stepped up and continued drinking. At the end of the day, Brynhildr did love being a Valkyrie. The fights, the food, the people (even if half the time were drunk), were all she wanted in her life. Sure, the last couple of months of nothing happening and the increased workload did irritate her but she still wouldn't give up being Chief.

Though, Audhild taking so many vacations since giving up her position did paint a clear picture.

"Brynhildr!" The Chief Valkyrie stopped and placed down her half full cup, seeing a young Einherjar run up to her. She frowned at the distressed look on his face.

"What's wrong?" She waved her hand and a magic circle appeared over her head, clearing up her slightly drunk state.

"Come see, something's happening!" The young Einherjar walked away and Brynhildr followed, quickly reaching a table on the far end of the hall. "Look!" The young Einherjar motioned towards another Einherjar and Brynhildr stepped forward to see.

"Oh would you relax Asmund! It's probably nothing! You shouldn't have bothered Lady Brynhildr!" A large man that looked vaguely like the young Einherjar said. He was a tall burly man with a handsome face, brown hair and a full beard. And his veins currently had glowing black streaks going through them. Brynhildr frowned. "Forgive my little brother's actions, he doesn't know-"

"Shut up." The man stopped talking at the Chief Valkyrie's words and she walked closer, grabbing the man's face. She observed the black streaks closely and even traced them, a very small magic circle on the tip of her finger. Her frown became deeper and she let go. "Draugr." Both Einherjar went wide eyed at that and the larger one got up in anger.

"Is someone trying to steal my buried riches!? Who!? I'll rip them apa-"

"No. It's not thieves." Brynhildr shook her head. "This is not natural Draugr movement, this is forced activation." In normal times, all Einherjars in Valhalla get a spell casted on their corpse to protect their treasure they were buried with. If it was a regular thief then the Einherjar would get a mental message and the body would naturally rise. But…

"Someone purposely raised your body." Brynhildr ignored their shocked faces and got down to business. "Go back to the barracks and alert the Valkyries of any other Einherjars that have the same thing happening to them." The two brothers nodded and Brynhildr reached out, a sheet of paper appearing in her hand. It had information on the large man and where he was buried.

"Denmark? Who woul-…Oh shit." Brynhildr remembered something very important and ran to the main hall of Valhalla.

* * *

**Throne Room**

"...Zeth truly has no boundaries." Mimir sighed as Brynhildr gave her report. "We knew his Generals had arrived in Denmark but to think they would disgrace an Einherjar's grave so soon and without care…"

"Like that fool cares about custom and respect; he declared war on his own benefactor." A man on the side sneered. He had a dignified face, long blonde hair and amber eyes. He was standing next to the severed head's podium and he was wearing long robes. This was the God of Sacral Kingship, Freyr. "We should have chased them out the moment they arrived."

"And risk being involved in this war? Your anger needs calming Freyr." A woman's voice chastised Freyr. The God and Advisor looked over to where the voice came from. They saw a short, beautiful woman with golden blond hair done in long braids and yellow pupils. She was sitting on the throne and another, but equally beautiful, maid was kneeling by her. This was the Queen of Asgard, Frigg and her maid Goddess Fulla.

"Even if I do calm down, they will still disgrace the graves of our fallen warriors." Freyr argued back. "So tell me, what should we do?"

"We communicate." Frigg calmly spoke and Freyr frowned.

"But that won't-"

"She's right." Odin finally spoke up after being silent this whole time. He stared out the window at his domain for a bit longer before turning to the kneeling Brynhildr. "Take your team and "kindly" suggest the General to leave Denmark."

"And if they don't cooperate?" Brynhildr asked and Odin titled his head in thought.

"Well…then I better polish Gungnir." Frigg frowned at this.

"Dear, that's-"

"No, I've made my mind up." Odin's face became stern. "We can't let Zeth do whatever he wants because we're afraid of the damage. I promised you I'd put that past behind me and I won't go looking for it but they brought this to our doorstep."

"A good king loves peace..."

"But doesn't fear war." Odin finished for Mimir and a fire could be seen in his eyes. "Those men partying and fighting in our name do so because they believe in our convictions. If we were to step back when one disgraces their resting places then do we deserve it?" No one in the room responded. "Well I won't want it. Not when I don't deserve it. I'm a God of my word and I will protect all who consider themselves my comrades…even if I have to die to prove it." Odin said this with such conviction and strength that Mimir couldn't stop the warm feeling coming from his chest (even though he didn't have one). This was the king he chose to follow all those years ago. Not the warmonger that wanted to conquer everything he saw but the one who will fight and die for anyone of his men. This was that king.

'Now if only I could fix that perverted streak…' Mimir thought wistfully and Freyr crossed his arms, nodding in approval at Odin's attitude. Frigg sighed.

"I was just going to say that I had Hlin temper Gungnir last week so you didn't need to bother. Nevermind." Odin blinked at this then blushed and apologized to his wife, getting a laugh from the others in the room.

"My Lord, there's something else." Brynhildr couldn't enjoy the moment however and spoke. "Zeth's General, the tomb they're raiding…it's the grave of Gorm the Old." The eyes of everyone in the room widened a little.

"…It's still there isn't it?" Odin frowned when Brynhildr nodded. "Then they must have taken it by now."

"I told you we should have moved it." Freyr commented.

"We all agreed to respect her wishes and the ones who created it. Besides, there are still the others to worry about." Odin reasoned and Freyr reluctantly agreed. "More importantly, how did they know it was there?"

"I have a guess." Mimir spoke up and everyone turned to the severed head. "Does no one find it odd that we haven't seen Loki since Zeth declared war against Olympus a couple months ago?"

"Do you think-"

"Yes I do, and Brynhildr you should watch yourself when in Denmark. These are dangerous times." Brynhildr nodded before bowing and leaving the throne room. She walked out the Hall of Valhalla and made for a tall tower in the middle of Asgard. The tower was larger than the majority of others around it and its countless magical runes littering its walls. Making her way past two guards that saluted her, Brynhildr stared at the large pair of spiral steps going up before shaking her head and choosing to fly up. She reached the top in under a minute and softly landed on the top of the tower.

"Hey Brynhildr!" The Chief Valkyrie looked over and saw her team was already here. Three women could be seen waiting on the side. One short woman with blond hair and battle armor was currently waving her over. Brynhildr walked over.

"Have you been briefed?"

"Yes, Lord Mimir already messaged us the details on your way here." Another woman in battle armor with long brown hair and green eyes said.

"Good." Brynhildr waved her hand and a second later she was also in Valkyrie battle armor with a large axe on her back. After making sure they got everything, the team made for the middle of the room. A gate was standing there and next to it sat a short man. He had short orange hair, brown eyes and a rugged beard. He had a steel helmet on and a horn hanging on his waist. The man nodded to the approaching women.

"Hello, Brynhildr." The mentioned Valkyrie bowed.

"Lord Heimdall, we need to-"

"I know where you need to go, Mimir already messaged me." Heimdall stood up and walked to the gate.

"Damn that head is meticulous." Brynhildr shook her head and the other Valkyries chuckled. Heimdall touched the gate and it started to shine, lights of every color filling the Nordic engravings. After a second, the entire gate was shining and a rainbow portal appeared.

"Best of luck." Brynhildr thanked the Guardian God for his words and entered the portal with her team.

* * *

**Catacombs, Back to Pierce**

"Okay, who's bright idea was it to bury these guys with their weapons!?" I asked as I blocked an axe from a Draugr. Pushing it back, I sliced its head off and the white light faded from its eye sockets. Not paying it any mind, I cut the arms of two Draugrs that tried to flank me and skewered the head of another. Grabbing one of the armless Draugr by the leg, I threw it at another group and Maven burned them to a crisp.

"Norse warriors believed that burying their fallen with their weapons would-"

"I was being rhetorical!" I yelled in annoyance as I kicked a Draugr into the wall, leaving a deep crater, and Chi Burst away from the wide swing of a large claymore. Pelting that Draugr with Holy Arrows, it turned to ash and I got to work nailing every undead in sight.

"Well I can never tell!" Maven huffed as she casted a lightning spell that pierced through a Draugr and traveled to a couple more. She flew up when the Draugr started to swarm her and rained down fire spears.

"Do you really think I would ask a question in the middle of a-"

"Can you guys leave your lovers spat for later!? And you were just about to!" Melissa yelled at us and rushed at the nearest group of Draugr. Four pairs of shadow arms popped out of her back and daggers appeared in their hands (the daggers I conveniently got for her in the Underworld). Dodging under the swing of Draugr, she sliced off its legs and parried multiple blades. The Shadow Yokai created multiple tendrils to restrict their movements and cut all their heads off. Falling into her shadow, she appeared within another group and sliced them to pieces within seconds. Turning on Touki, I rushed at Melissa and kicked away a Draugr that sneaked up behind her. She looked up to me.

"I had that."

"Uh huh, sure you di-" I stopped and tried to turn around to handle another Draugr. I didn't have to however because Melissa's dagger flew by dangerously close to my face and pierced through the Draugr's head. I watched the Draugr fall to the ground with a heavy thud and looked back to my girlfriend with a deadpan.

"I had that."

"Sure you did." She gave a Cheshire smile and sent a shadow tendril to the dagger stuck in the Draugr's head, pulling it out. I rolled my eyes good naturedly. Seeing another group of Draugrs with shields charging at us, I slammed down on the ground and cracked it. The floor in front of us collapsed and they fell down into the abyss below. That barely did much however because more Draugrs started to enter in waves from the upper levels. Maven, Melissa and I stayed to fight the Draugrs while everyone else went further. Rubbing my space ring, I took out my Light Sword and it shone in the dark catacombs.

"_**Gryttr Ham. Auka Atrið. Afar Harðr." **_I activated my magic and charged forward to meet the new Draugr group, dodging a slash from the leading undead. Piercing my sword through its torso, I cut it in half and cut off three heads in a row. Tilting my head back to dodge an axe swing, I cut the offending Draugr to pieces and kicked a hole in the torso of another. Squeezing the handles of my swords lightly, my arms became blurs as I swung rapidly and left a trail of Draugr bodies wherever I went. Melissa wasn't falling far behind as she also activated Touki and every swing of her daggers made a Draugr head hit the floor (the explosions from Maven's spells said enough). Cutting off the heads of multiple Draugr at once, I watched as they became ash and saw a lone Draugr rush at me. Finding this mildly amusing (did it not see me cut down dozens of its brethren with ease?), I moved to deal with it. I found it much less amusing when it grew 5 feet in height spontaneously. "What the fu-" I crossed my arms as the enlarged fist hit me and sent me flying against the wall, leaving a sizable crater. Spitting out the dust in my mouth, I flipped out the way when another fist came my way. "They can do that?!"

"That's a Bóndi Draugr! Careful, they can also shapeshift!" Maven warned as she made a magic circle and a fire serpent came out. It lunged at the Bóndi and circled around it, biting into its neck. The serpent's fire body burned the places it touched, but the undead didn't care and roared. The roar was abnormally loud and forced us to cover our ears, the walls cracking from the sound. It turned into a massive, decomposed bear and bit the serpent, ripping into pieces. After a meal of snake fire, it glared at us and growled.

"Oh, you want to go there?" I smiled at the challenge and called upon a large amount of Chi. It escaped my body in waves, making my body rise as a Chi Construct was being made under me. The life energy quickly coiled together and formed into the vague shape of a bear. A second passed and the bear became more realistic. Thick fur, sharp teeth, and glaring eyes were soon formed, making the construct complete. I smiled silly as the bear roared, matching the Bóndi Draugr's roar from earlier and it hunched, ready to charge. "Tyrant's Reign." I softly said and the bear shaped Draugr charged forward, my Chi Animal doing the same.

A shockwave rang out as the two behemoths clashed, the ground cracking under their weight. They swiped at each other constantly, leaving deep scratch marks on each other. My Chi Animal bit the shoulder of the Draugr and it tried to pry it off. Not letting go, I jumped on the Bóndi's back and sank my Light Sword into its back. The flesh around the sword turned to ash and the Bóndi tried shaking me off but it had a hard time moving with my Tyrant holding onto it. The Draugr tried to bite me but Melissa's shadow tendril wrapped around its head and stopped it. Seeing my chance, I swung down on the undead's exposed neck and lopped it clean off. I jumped the ground as the body became ash and my Chi Animal roared in victory before dissolving.

"…Was that really necessary?" Melissa deadpanned.

"What do you mean? When two large monsters fight, it's customary for the winner to roar to signify their victory." I said matter of fact.

"Says who?"

"Lots of people! You'll understand someday." And that will be an interesting day. She quirked a brow at that before shrugging and helping Maven fight a group of Draugrs. The ancient catacomb was now littered with craters and smoking corpses, the majority of Draugrs now dead. 'Well…dead-er.' Seeing the remaining stragglers, I created multiple Chi Swords and wiped them out. Once that was done, we ran down the stairs to catch up with the others and made it just in time…to hear a loud bang and see Vargas flying towards us. I caught the spirit inheritor and set him down.

"What did we miss?"

"Them." Vargas said as he rubbed the back of his head and we looked forward. The rest of the team was currently fighting against 4 new opponents. Two were pointy eared women with tribal marking over their body and two weird looking Draugr. They weren't shriveled like the other Draugrs and seemed to be regular people with coal like skin. They were both tall men with full white beards, fancy robes and red lights in their eyes. Aindrea was currently fighting the two as Adrian and Samantha dealt with the women. The Emissary was clashing against the axes of one the elves and the Healer put up barriers that the other woman was trying to break through. Not wasting time, I rushed forward when Aindrea was pushed back and slashed at the odd Draugrs.

"Wait Pierce, don-" The Demigod's warning came too late because my blade clashed against the Draugr's glowing sword. I could immediately feel an immense force hitting my sword and a shockwave rang out, the result being me flung against the walls. I bit my tongue from the impact and got out the way when a pillar of ice was thrown at me. Vargas and Melissa rushed at the Draugr that sent the ice attack while I fought the other one with Aindrea (Maven went to go help Adrian and Samantha).

_"__**Spartiatikí Poreía!" **_Multiple illusionary Spartan spears flew at the Draugr but it just struck them with its sword and they shattered. Chi Bursting forward, I learned my lesson and ducked under the Draugrs slash, cutting its torso with my Light Sword. The flesh cut sizzled but it didn't react and slashed at me again, forcing me to dodge. Aindrea shot forward with his spear and the Draugr dodged the thrust, grabbing the Demigod's weapon. It swung Aindrea hard on the ground and I kicked its face, making it let go. It slashed at me multiple times and I dodged them all, slashing at its arms whenever I could. The Draugr's sword glowed in a green color and a meter long blade of light rose from it, very much like my Sword Fury.

"_**Pedites Defensionis!" **_Aindrea got in front and a large illusionary shield appeared, taking the full brunt of the attack. The attack bent the shield with the shock wave pushing the walls around us and leaving countless cracks, showcasing its strength. Aindrea gritted his teeth and started to sweat heavily, trying his best to hold the shield together. The Demigod won out because the light dimmed and the Draugr seemed to visibly sag, the magic energy within it decreasing fast. I Chi Burst next to the Draugr and used the chance when it had difficulty raising its arm to cut it off.

The glowing sword fell to the ground and I kicked the Draugr in the face, sending it flying into the wall. I picked up the sword so the Draugr couldn't get it back and seeing it up close, it really was odd looking. It was a long double-edged sword colored in all black with a bat winged like cross guard and diamond shaped holes in the middle. 'Now that I think about it, this looks kind of famili-'

'…free…me…' A disembodied voice rang out and my eyes widened, looking down at the sword in shock.

'D-Did it just-'

"Pierce!" I looked up at Aindrea's voice and saw how the Draugr crawled out of the wall, lunging at me. Aindrea smacked it with his spear and it flew back, falling to the ground. Summoning Jade, I had her freeze the Draugr solid but it shockingly broke out of the ice prison with ease. _**"Terebro!"**_ A magic circle appeared on Aindrea's spear and a golden light encased it, shaping into a drill. He lunged forward and pierced through the undead's chest, the spear popping out the back. The spear spinned and ripped the body to pieces, the remains falling to the ground. Aindrea shook his spear, getting rid of any more zombie dust and looked at me in question. "What was that? Why did you freeze up?" I looked back down at the sword.

"The sword…spoke to me?"

"…"

"…"

"…What?" We quickly jumped back when an ice pillar came our way, effectively ending that conversation. Melissa and Vargas were in a heated battle against the other Draugr; they seemed to be having a harder time then we did. Taking out my crossbow, I started to shoot the Draugr with Holy Arrows but it just froze them in midair. It dodged Melissa's attack from behind and tried to cut her head off but Vargas blocked that attack. Pushing the spirit inheritor back, it grabbed my wrist when I tried to pierce it and threw me at Vargas. It pointed its sword and tried to freeze us but Jade met the ice attack with her own, negating it. It parried all of Aindrea's thrusts and slowly froze his spear, the frost covering his hand. The Draugr ducked under Vargas slashed and blocked my sword before being kicked away by Melissa. It slammed into the wall and Melissa summoned her shadow hounds, making them charging at the undead.

Vargas followed suit and summoned his yellow Templars, having them encircle the Draugr. The fight quickly became a battle of stamina as we alternated between attacking the Draugr and trying to whittle its strength down. Whoever this guy was in life, he was a tough son of a bitch. It perfectly countered every attack we sent at it but it could never finish the job because another member intervened. After dodging Melissa's daggers and blocking Aindreas, I gave it a deep slash on it's side with my Light Sword. It stumbled backwards from the searing wound, giving a shadow hound the chance to bite its arm and hold it down. This left enough time for the other hounds to bite the rest of its limbs. Seeing it was near its end, I activated Sword Fury and charged forward, Aindera doing the same with his illusionary spears.

"_**Svalr Hregg!" **_The Draugr yelled in a demonic voice and the sword in his hand glowed, shining brightly. A light blue waved expanded from the Draugr, freezing the shadow hounds and templars around it to solid ice. I gritted my teeth as we were pushed back by the wave and felt the biting frost invade through my Touki, thankfully Jade stopped the frost from invading further. A magic circle suddenly appeared over our heads and snow started pouring out, turning the dark catacomb into the middle of a blizzard. I crossed my arms as the blizzard raged around us and it seemed to increase in intensity as time passed. Jade quickly created a wide ice dome to protect us and we had a moment to breathe. I walked over to check on Melissa since she rushed the Draugr when we were pushed back and saw how her body was almost frozen over from the spell.

"T-Thanks." Melissa shivered as I gave her Jade and the Familiar dissolved the ice on her; I even gave her some of my Chi to help.

"Anytime." I smiled and rubbed her shoulders.

"…What about us?" Vargas asked as he tried to pry off a piece of ice that was stuck on his arm and Aindrea's leg was frozen.

"Aren't you big, strong guys? You'll be fine."

"…Dick." I chuckled at Vargas' comment and walked over to give them some of my Chi, Jade helping with their frostbite. Seeing everyone was fine, I kicked open the ice dome and saw the state of the catacomb. The wall and grounds were frozen over, with the Draugr itself struggling to keep balance (didn't think that one through, did you?). I walked forward while it was distracted to end this but I didn't get the chance because the roof to the room exploded and sent dust everywhere.

'Oh what now?' I internally groaned and channeled Chi into my eyes to see the new arrivals through the smoke. From their auras, I could tell they were both women and I was mildly shocked to find they both sensed a bit like Aindrea.

"A Pjága? Here? How did we not know about this?" A woman's surprised voice rang out and the dust cleared, showing both women. One was tall with light blue hair, a voluptuous figure and blue eyes that were furrowed. The other had long brown hair with a lithe frame and green eyes. They were both quite pretty and had old looking battle armor.

"They probably put more work into hiding this Pjága than the regular Draugrs." The brown haired answered the other women's question.

"Hm." The blue haired women nodded in agreement before taking her eyes from the undead and stared in our direction. No one moved as we locked eyes and I slightly raised my hand to wave.

"Hey, how's it going?" She quirked a brow at that before taking out her claymore and pointing it at us. "Damn okay, it was just a question! You don't need to answer!" I raised my hands in mock surrender.

"…Why is a Demigod from Olympus here?" The woman asked with a hard face and I heard Aindrea's annoyed voice.

"That's none of your business Valkyrie." The two women frowned at his tone and their magic power rose.

"Whoa, whoa, let's hold on a minute!" I stepped forward to defuse the situation and it seemed to work as the Valkyrie's auras decreased. I looked back to Aindrea and whispered. "Hey Guide to the Emissary, I don't know if you noticed but this is Norse territory so we're technically trespassing! Do your job!" As much as I didn't care for rules, we were making a mess of a Norse catacomb (even if it wasn't our fault) and with how anal they are about respecting the dead, I'd rather not get on their bad side. Besides, we have enough problems on our plate, let's not add pissed off Valkyries to the list. Aindrea seemed defiant but I gave him a pointed look and he huffed for a second before sighing. He looked up to the Valkyries and slightly bowed.

"We're chasing after a General of the Monster God Zeth known as Talien. We tracked him to these catacombs and we believe he resurrected the bodies to slow us down. I'm afraid we had no choice but to fight back and that caused the catacombs to become like this. We're…sorry." Now just take out the pile of sand in your mouth and that "sorry" may sound half genuine. The Valkyries noticed that and narrowed their eyes.

"Don't mind that, he's naturally like this. He'd much rather fight a battle crazy titan with a toothpick then be genuinely sorry. I'd take it and run." I said with a shrug and smiled when the Valkyries smirked. "Oh don't look at me like that; if you don't want to be called an asshole then don't act like one." I hypocritically said and Aindrea looked away while crossing his arms.

"So Zeth's General is the cause…" The blue haired Valkyrie said in realization and fell into thought. While she did that, the undead we were fighting got his footing and sent an ice spear at the Valkyrie. She didn't even turn her head as she waved her hand and a magic circle protected her from the ice attack. Chains flew out of the circle and wrapped around the Thrall, immobilizing the undead. It fell to the ground and struggled, trying to break free but it had no success. I had only one thing to say.

"…We tired him out for you." The two Valkyries snorted at that, though I didn't feel any maliciousness behind it, and floated down to the ground. "Pierce."

"Gunhild." The brown haired Valkyrie said.

"Brynhildr." The blue haired Valkyries sheathed her claymore and Aindrea spoke up again.

"Brynhildr? You're the newest Chief of the Valkyries? Humph, not very impressive." The Demigod smugly said and that got angry looks from the two Valkyries. Thankfully, before the situation escalated, an explosion was heard in the distance. The catacombs rocked and bright lights flashed further in, right where the others were fighting.

"Let's go!" I said while running to the chained up Pjága and cutting off its head, turning it to ash. I didn't forget to take its weird sword and store it in my space ring before running to help the others (I didn't hear a weird voice this time). The explosions got louder and consistent as we reached the last level of the catacombs. We came to see Adrian, Samantha, and Maven fighting the two pointy eared women from earlier with the addition of a familiar looking grey skinned man. Samantha and Maven were fighting the women while Adrian sent concentrated bursts of sunlight at the Elf King.

_**"Leucaspidem sanctus est sanguis!"**_ Vargas charged forward and a white shield with a red cross appeared in his hand. He used it to slam into Talien as he dodged another bolt of sunlight from Adrian and sent him flying back. Talien back flipped in the air and landed without injury, only to dodge another bolt of sunlight. With the assistance of Vargas, both men rushed at Talien but he dodged all their attacks easily enough. Waving his hand, he blocked both men's swords with magic circles and sent them flying against the wall.

"_**Folk Galti." **_Brynhildr chanted and a large magic circle appeared in the room, a huge ethereal boar coming out of it. The boar charged at Talien, the concrete under its feet shattering for every step it took. The Elf king wasn't fazed and lightly waved his hand, a gust of wind lifting the creature. It was sent flying back and Gunhild charged with a mace in hand but Talien blocked the mace with his bare hand. The Valkyrie blasted him in the face with a fire spell but the smoke cleared to show Talien's amused face and a protection spell over it.

He found it less amusing when I Chi Burst next to him and swung a full force Sword Fury into his side.

"Hrnn!" The Elf King grunted as he brought up another magic circle but it shattered under my attack and a shockwave rang out, his feet digging into the ground as he flew back. Talien came to a stop a second later and looked at the arm he used to block. It had a nasty looking bruise and was bleeding. He glared at me.

"…Oh fuck you, I should be pissed." My strongest attack left a flesh wound on the General and he had the audacity to be mad (granted, while a large portion of strength was lost breaking through his magic circle that was still kind of pathetic).

"_**Mâncători De Moarte!" **_Talien waved his hand and countless spector like arms shot out of his magic circle. Everything they touched rotted and everyone hurriedly dodged the appendages. I cut at every death arm that came at me and noticed how many of them seemed to flow to the top of the room. Adrian's body glowed brightly, just like that time in Hakon, and he rushed forward. Every arm touched by the light was purged and they were all quickly dealt with after a run around by the Emissary. Brynhildr flew at Talien with her claymore and they started sword fighting, the Chief Valkyrie slowly losing ground. That changed when Aindrea thrusted at the Elf King's head and I tried to cut his leg, both attacks being dodged.

Talien was besieged by all the combatants and held his own well but that didn't last long. After ducking under Brynhildr's claymore and Vargas' Holy Sword, Melissa shredded his back. Talien retaliated by sending a magic spell at the Yokai but she sank into her shadow to escape. That left him open to another one of my Sword Fury's with much clearer results, his unprotected arm bleeding heavily. He gritted his teeth and roared, a magic barrier protecting him.

_**"Torri Rhwystr Hud!" **_Gunhild chanted and the barrier dissolved, showing Talien's smiling face.

_**"Sgrin Mwg." **_Black smoke flowed out from Talien's hands and spread from all over the room, filling it. I cursed as the smoke engulfed the others and poured as much Chi as I could into my Touki, waiting for the effects to kick in. Yet after a couple seconds passed, nothing happened besides my regular senses being hampered. I barely heard Brynhildr chant _**"Liquet!"**_ and the black smoke cleared, the room once again being in full view. I looked around and everyone seemed to be okay.

All except for one Elf King, who was currently not here. I didn't get the chance to curse because I heard crumbling above me and looked up. The roof was fully rotted with pieces coming down and large cracks appearing everywhere.

A second later the catacombs fell on top of us.

* * *

**Outside the Catacombs**

The entrance to Gorm the Old's secret tomb shook violently, the stairs crumbling and the resting stones tilting over into the newly formed pit. A portal appeared next to it and Talien hopped out of it, his two elf followers along with him. The Elf King grimaced at the minor wounds the group gave him and cast a healing spell to stop the bleeding.

"Arghh! Annoying little mage shit!" One of the Elves cursed out loud as she cast a spell over her burnt leg, courtesy of the said mage. "I was having fun against that Emissary, she just had to come along and ruin it!"

"What do we do now my Lord?" The other Elf chose to ignore her companion's complaining and spoke to Talien. "Should we have some Draugr dig up their remains or..."

"They're not dead." Talien wasn't stupid enough to believe that a simple cave in was enough to kill the Emissary party, let alone the Chief Valkyrie. "But it will slow them down." Talien waved his hand and 3 small lights appeared above it, though that just made the Elf King frown.

"What is it?" The Elf asked.

"They took out my Pjága. I noticed when the link was cut but for both of them to be dealt with so soon..." Talien didn't want to think about what that meant. Zeth went through a lot of trouble to find the graves to those Pjága, not to mention their weapons. "Has your elder accomplished what I've asked of him?"

"The clan has breached the tribe with your undead but our elder is not quite done yet." Talien frowned at this.

"What is taking him so long?"

"The elder said there was a powerful barrier protecting what you asked for, he just recently had the chance to work on it." The light Elf explained and Talien fell into thought. His eyes periodically went to the rubble where the Emissary and his party along with the Valkyries were trapped.

'...Should I call him in?' Talien was very hesitant on that option. The Elf King knew that the party chasing after him were dangerous and that he should follow Zeth's plan for his own safety but he also knew that the Monster God would be less than pleased with his current results. "...We're leaving." Talien said with finality and waved his hand, allowing all three of them to float in the air. Telling his two followers that they would go help with the siege, they took to the sky and flew in one direction.

The thought of earning the Monster God's disappointment (and anger) along with his own arrogance stopped the Elf King from calling for help. While the loss of his two hard to get Pjága was annoying, Talien did not dwell on it. Once the Elf King was done, then any losses he suffered would be trivial.

After all, having near limitless wealth was almost as comforting as having _that man_ as a Pjága. Talien gave a wide smile at the thought of his completing his goal and flew faster towards the horizon.

* * *

**Deep in the Catacombs, Back to Pierce**

'...I'm really glad I'm not claustrophobic.' I thought as the rubble was held up by 2 large magic circles. Brynhildr and Maven were both holding their hands up , keeping the catacombs from squashing us all. 'Wait, would I really die if this much rock fell on me?' Considering the hits I've tanked before, I should in theory be able to survive a cave in (not that I was going to test that, I was just curious).

"I had a dream like this once." Samantha spoke up and we all looked at the healer. "They weren't here though." She pointed at the two Valkyries.

"...How did it end?" Of course that's the first thing I asked.

"Well, time passed by really fast but by the end of it we were all skinny and Aindrea was missing."

"Did we eat him?"

"Maybe, there wasn't any blood so I don't think so." Samantha shook her head before tilting it. "Then we were dug up by huge Giants and they brought us back to their village to eat but the portions were too big for us. Vargas threw up...that's it."

"Huh, what an odd dream." I said with a thoughtful expression. "...What were they servin-"

"Pierce." Everyone deadpanned.

"Hey, we're buried under tons of rubble and this used to be a tomb. Let me have my fun!" I huffed and everyone shook their heads. Maven and Brynhildr worked together to lift the rubble, stabilizing the chamber we were in. We all sat down to catch our breaths and Samantha tended to any wounds we had but we were relatively alright. Adrian tried to contact the Homer team (that's what I'm going to call them) and Maven tried to cast the Fairy spell from earlier. Except the moment the wisp formed it blackened and fell apart, the spell doing nothing. "What does that mean?"

"It means Talien knows how we tracked him the first time." Maven sighed in irritation. "He's put up a spell to block the tracking. The same thing won't work a second time." We all groaned at that.

"I guess we have to do it the old fashion way." I leaned back and saw how the two Valkyries were facing the wall. Brynhildr placed her hand on the wall and felt around, trying to find something. She stopped at a random point. "What are you guys-"

_**"Holr**_ _**líða." **_A magic circle appeared on her hand and it carved into the stone, clearing out a path inwards. The two Valkyries walked into the new path and quickly went out of sight. We all sat there watching their exit.

"...Who were they?" Maven asked and I gave her a weird look.

"You're just asking now?" The mage blushed.

"Oh shut up! I was busy and I don't want to hear that from you!" Fair enough. I stood up as Melissa explained to the curious members who Brynhildr and Gunhild were. I took the chance to follow after the two Valkyries and made it to a large room with two coffins in the middle. Brynhildr was standing over an open coffin and she was frowning.

"Can I help you?" I turned to look at Gunhild leaning by the wall and I shrugged.

"Nah, I was just curious on what you guys were doing."

"Curiosity kills." Gunhild snorted

"And satisfaction brought it back."

"...What?"

"Oh, is that not a saying yet? I wonder who made it then." I fell into thought while Gunhild gave me a weird look. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. So what are you guys doing?"

"That is none of your business." Brynhildr spoke as she walked back and nodded at Gunhild. "We're leaving." She walked past us and into the tunnel, Gunhild following after.

"Are guys going after Talien?" I asked and Brynhildr stopped, looking back at me. I locked eyes with her and she stared back. "...You're not going to point your claymore at me again, are you?" I asked after a minute of silence. The Chief Valkyrie snorted.

"Not unless you give me a reason." She paused for a second before nodding. "Yes, we are going after Talien. He needs to pay for disrespecting our Einherjar's resting place."

"Great! Then it's settled!"

"...What's settled?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Why one of the greatest cliche around and that's up there with the Hero Party, the Team Up!" I smiled widely and Brynhildr made a confused face.

"A team what?"

"A Team Up! You know, two teams are going after the same bad guy and seeing they're a little outmatched, join forces to save the day! Granted, one team gets their asses handed to them a couple times until they realize that's what they need to do but you guys look smarter than that. That's what happened last time anyway." They both looked curious at that. "So what do you say?"

"...I think you should use the claymore." Gunhild said from the side and Brynhildr smirked (I did too a little). The Chief Valkyrie looked me up and down before speaking.

"How do I know I can trust you?"

"That's a good question." I tilted my head at the question. "Let me ask you this, do I look untrustworthy?" Brynhildr rose a brow at that.

"...I think you're a weirdo." I nodded my head in agreement. "But...no, no I don't think you're untrustworthy."

"Great, now let's-"

"But I will warn you now, betray us or hinder us in any way and the Norse pantheon will get even." She said this with a hard face and I blinked.

"Okay, not to destroy this alliance before it starts but weren't we fighting side by side like ten minutes. Isn't it kind of too late to ask that?" It was Brynhildr's turn to blink. She lowered her head in thought and opened her mouth a couple of times to say something but stopped before doing it.

"...Let's go." The Chief Valkyrie said that and walked away, much faster than before. Gunhild didn't react until a second later and followed after her leader.

"...Wait, is that a yes to the Team Up? Hey!" And so I chased after the retreating Valkyries.

They walked away faster.

* * *

**Outside the Catacombs**

I stepped out of the portal Maven created, finding myself outside the destroyed tomb with everyone else. I took in a deep breath of glorious fresh air.

"Ah, that's the stuff. You don't appreciate clean air until you're dozens of feet underground with rotting, man eating zombies trying to kill you." I said and Melissa smirked.

"So being inside a Basilisk's acidic stomach doesn't make you appreciate this?"

"Eh, I held my breath before jumping in." I said nonchalantly and Gunhild gaped.

"Y-You willingly jumped into a Basilisk's stomach!? Why!?"

"It was all I had." I ignored the Valkyries' bewildered look and turned to Adrian. "So what now? How do we find Talien now?" The Emissary fell into deep thought before speaking.

"Talien came here for something. It could have been for the dead bodies but he also came for the elf tribe in the area."

"So you think he went to another mass grave or elf tribe?" Vargas asked and Adrian nodded.

"Most likely." Adrian turned to Brynhildr. "Are there any other places in mind that have a elf tribe or catacomb?"

"There's plenty of places in Scandinavia that have catacombs. Many kings and rulers during the Dark Ages were buried with their armies to grant safe passage to the afterlife. That was a fun time for our religions." Brynhildr snorted and crossed her arms. "But the number of elf tribes still left in Midgard are few in number."

"Are there any nearby?"

"There is one, far east in Gotland." Brynhildr pointed in the direction of the location and we all looked at each other.

"So what are we doing?" I asked and Adrian rubbed his chin.

"...Well, we can always split up and-"

"Actually, if I may." Gunhild spoke up and we all looked at her. "From what our sources say, Talien stayed a couple days in this area to convince the local tribe to join him. By his actions, he seems to put importance on gaining allies then Draugrs. He's most likely headed to Gotland for that tribe. Besides, there is not enough of us to check the countless catacombs that litter Scandinavia before Talien escapes." Gunhild finished and we were all impressed with her logic. Zeth does want an army and the Generals main job is to recruit, so it stands to reason that Talien will go after another elf tribe. There was just one problem.

'She's holding something back.' Gunhild didn't lie, she just didn't say that whole truth. My senses told me that some of the things she said were true while in some parts, her aura became a little warped. Especially when she said "he's mostly headed". What does this mean? It means that they believe for sure that Talien's headed to that tribe and why but won't tell us. I subtly locked eyes with Melissa and she nodded, sensing it too. 'So much for trust.'

"I guess we're headed to Gotland then." I said with a shrug and the Valkyries nodded, getting to work on making a portal. Adrian walked closer to Melissa and I.

"What is it?" The Emissary saw our eye contact and asked.

"Nothing, I think. They're holding something back but they don't seem to mean us harm...besides Aindrea anyway. I think we're good." I said and Adrian looked at the Valkyries work.

"Alright but keep an eye out. If anything seems out of place then say so."

"Got it." We ended with that and walked over to the newly formed portal. I leaned over to whisper to Maven. "Is that portal going where it's supposed to go?" She blushed at the close proximity and took a second to collect herself, sensing the portal with her Spiritual Energy. The mage nodded and I walked forward. I stood in front of the portal and was about to step through before stopping. I looked over to Brynhildr.

"I got to ask, these Elves in Gotland, they aren't cannibals or satanic worshipers are they?"

"No they're not." The Chief Valkyrie shook her head.

"Oh goo-"

"They just kill every human that comes into their home uninvited and use their souls to make magical totems."

"..."

"..."

"...Whoever made elf cliches deserves a swift kick to the nuts." I ignored their confused faces and stepped into the portal.

* * *

**Gotland, Pinophyta**

I was now standing in a large, dense forest. I was on a mountain side and could see a large expanse of nothing but trees. I activated Chi Vision but all that was shown in my 10 kilometer range was the aura of trees. I couldn't help the smile that made its way on my face.

"Why are you smiling?" Brynhildr asked as she came through the portal and saw the look on my face.

"Oh nothing it's just...I'm back in a forest."

"...Okay?" I chuckled the odd look she gave me and waited for everyone else to come through. Brynhildr said that the entrance to the Elf tribe was close by and we followed after the Chief Valkyrie. We trailed up to the top of the mountain and came to a flat area. In the middle of the area sat a large tree. On the tree was a large Nordic symbol and Brynhildr walked up to it. She waved her hand and a magic circle appeared in front of it, rotating. The symbol shone and the tree shook, the magic circle rotating faster. _**"Hníga!"**_

The tree split right down the middle from Brynhildr's shout, a clear view of another space in the opening. We entered at Brynhildr's "go!" and she followed quickly after, the tree closing behind us. We were in another forest but it was very different from the first one. Countless trees of different colors and species with supernatural animals (probably drawn in by the noise) walked about. Many statues were standing around the tree entrance and Rune Stones littered the grounds.

"...Somethings wrong." Brynhildr frowned at the beautiful scene and looked around. "There should be guards watching the gate." We all looked around but couldn't find any guards or elves. "...Let's go." Brynhildr rose in the air and took off in one direction, we all followed along (Melissa made wings out of shadows and Maven put the flying spell on Vargas). We soared over the otherworldly forest for a couple of minutes and after passing a large mountain, came to our destination. A city with tall walls surrounding it came into view. The majority of the buildings within were a mix of brick and wood, colorful trees planted on every corner. At the center sat a large circular structure that had a massive tree growing in the center. It would have honestly been a beautiful sight...if it wasn't for the houses on fire and Draugrs chasing the elf residents everywhere.

"Look out!" Gunhild shouted and we weaved out of the way of a huge boulder. I looked down and saw that multiple massive Bondi Draugr's spotted us, choosing to chuck large boulders at us. We continued dodging the projectiles and Adrian spoke.

"Spread out, deal with these Draugrs and if you find Talien don't engage. Call us to help. Understood?!" He got a round of acknowledgements and flew to a nearby area with lots of Draugr. Everyone split up to handle an area and I stared down at the Bondi Draugr's. They are currently picking up more boulders to throw and I flew down towards them. I dodged another volley of boulders and took out my Light Sword, piercing deep into the skull of a Bondi. The massive head turned to ash and fell to the ground. I fell back when another Bondi tried to step on me and I sliced clean through it's ankle, forcing it to kneel. I Chi Burst on its back when it tried to grab me and cut its head off. I flew up, dodging another boulder and noticed how two Bondi's were working together to lift a house.

_**"Gryttr Ham." **_They threw the house at me and I slammed right into it, ripping through the house in midair. I created two large Chi Swords and pierced the chest of both Bondi's, making them fall on their backs. I sliced off both their heads when they were down and took a breather as they turned to ash. I used my Spiritual Energy to sense any other undead in the area and quickly found another coming in fast. Very fast. I quickly turned in the direction of the approaching undead and saw this blackened, beefy hand going for my face. I ducked under the fist and tried to pierce it's stomach but it grabbed my hand in time. I grunted as it tried to crush my hand and kicked it in the face, making it stumble back. My eyes widened as I got a good look at my opponent. "...What in the holy Hell."

The Draugr in front of me was similar in appearance to the odd Draugrs in the catacombs with the weird swords but the similarity ended there. The Draugr was easily 3 meters in height with an extremely muscular physique. It's neck, arms, and legs were as thick as my waist and it's fist were as large as my face. 'Okay who invited Vasco's ancestor. It's no one's business to have that much muscle.' It was kind of gross actually. The muscular undead roared and charged at me, forcing my attention back to it. I tried to slash its arms off whenever it threw a punch but it always brought it back before I could. It also knew how to do feints and nearly got me on the side, but I narrowly blocked it. The fight continued like this and just as I was about to use another strengthening spell to beat the Draugr, Gunhild's voice rang out.

_**"Fjǫtra." **_Chains wrapped around the Draugr and picked him up, slammed him into a house on the side. Gunhild floated down next to me. "You need some help?"

"...I like how you ask after attacking." I deadpanned and Gunhild smirked, looking over to the odd Draugr as it stood up. The chains creaked and cracked when it tried spreading its arms. "That won't hold on for long."

"I'd expect no less from Styrbjörn the Strong. To think Talien made him a Pjága without us knowing is quite something." I looked at her in confusion.

"I remember Brynhildr calling that odd Draugr back in the catacombs a...Pgaqa? Is that what these are called?"

"Pjága." Gunhild corrected. "And yes, they are different from regular Draugr. While you can bring back regular soldiers from the grave into Draugrs, humans with special powers or abilities are a bit more difficult. You need a forbidden magic spell to bring them back as Pjága and you can only bring back a limited number of them. Pjága's come back with not only their abilities but their battle instincts and experience, unlike regular mindless Draugrs." Gunhild gave a bloodthirsty smile as Styrbjörn destroyed the chains and took out her sword. "This will be an interesting fight."

"...Are you sure you're not related to Aindrea?" She didn't answer as she charged at Styrbjörn and they clashed, a shockwave being created. "...And they wonder why none of them could get boyfriends." Remembering a certain Valkyrie with drinking problems and mood swings, I shook my head at the weird quirks of the Half-Gods.

Then I charged at Styrbjörn and joined the fight.

* * *

And done. What's worse than undead warriors? Undead super warriors attacking an Elf city. Yeah, Pierce has his work cut out for him (but what else is new). I hope you enjoyed!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	29. Chapter 28

_**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**_

**Duedguy15: **I explained this to someone else before but I'll explain again. Being a 7th Order Magician is having the ability to cast a 7th Order spell. Ophis and Great Red are the strongest beings in DxD but they don't strike me as the diverse technique kind. They both have monstrous levels of energy and they mainly use the abilities they were born with to be the strongest. Think of it as being a pure force type (Ophis and Great Red) as opposed to being a master technique type (the Biblical God). If Ophis was a Master magician then she wouldn't have gathered so many beings into the Khaos Brigade with unique powers (Hero Faction, Nilrem, the Old Satan Faction) to fight Great Red. If she had the same sealing abilities as the Biblical God then she would have just sealed Great Red since they were evenly matched. The Biblical God wasn't as strong as Trihexa but his skill made it so he can seal it away, not to mention all the other crap he made like the Holy Spear, Cross, and Grail (if Ophis could create any one of them then she would have). Sure their innate abilities are 7th Order but they're one trick Dragons really. Very, _very_ powerful tricks but they only have the one nonetheless.

**Hetes**: Yeah, he still has the bear claw scars on his chest. It was a pretty deep attack from a being physically stronger then him so his Chi could only heal so much at the time. Pierce will have scars from enemies that can really damage him or what his Chi can't heal in the moment he gets them.

**Guest**: I prefer hard workers because for one, with enough hard work anyone can become powerful and only a select few in the world are lucky enough to be gifted the "easy" route. Besides, that's how real life works, you gotta work hard in life to get somewhere and there's no "easy" way to the top in an anime world. Even protagonists with broken abilities eventually meet those that have equally broken powers but still work to gain power and get curb stomped (unless they don't and then that's just boring writing). As for your suggestions, I got to be honest, those sound like they should be in a crack fic. I'm not saying they are bad because they're not but if it did work that way then other energies like Devil Energy and Angel energy would have massively boosted the power of every character but they don't. Every power I give or will give Pierce, you could actually envision being in DxD without much problem. Thanks for the suggestions though and thank you for the kind words!

* * *

**Chapter 28: A Love Story and the Little Voices in your Head**

Disclaimer: I own Highschool DxD. Okay, I actually don't. I just wanted to see how it feels to say it. I don't own the OCs. Huh, felt weird writing that (I do own them though).

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Secret Elf City**

"_**Kveykva Mi Álfheimr!"**_ Gunhild waved her hand and nordic axes came flying at Styrbjörn, forcing him to retreat. I Chi Burst behind him and tried to cut his head off but he ducked under it. I blocked a back hand attack and cut at his arm but he sent a punch at my face. I leaned back and dodged the following punches, his fists moving so fast they left after images. Narrowly missing a punch by an inch, I pierced Styrbjörn chest with my Light Sword and sank it further in. I was surprised to see it had no effect as the light from my Light Sword was actually absorbed into his chest. I hurriedly pulled out before my weapon was completely absorbed and Styrbjörn's veins started to glow in a bright red.

"_**Mærr of sá Aldrnari!" **_Styrbjörn's demonic voice chanted and his entire body went up in flames, the heat burning the floor around him. His speed got a huge boost as he left a foot imprint on the ground and reached me in an instant. I wasn't prepared for the increase in speed and took an inflamed fist to my chest.

"Argh!" I yelled in pain as the fist burned through my Touki and seared my chest. I hurriedly ducked under his next punch and blocked a kick with my sword, the heat leaving a black mark. Gunhild flew at Styrbjörn's and slashed at his neck, barely harming him because of his new flaming aura. He grabbed Gunhild and threw her into a nearby house. "Jade!" I summoned my familiar and she sent dozens of ice spears at the flaming undead. The spears melted before they could reach Styrbjörn and I watched as he took a deep breath and held it. His throat was slightly enlarged. 'Oh don't tell me-'

"_**Eldr Glymja!" **_I crouched and jumped high in the air, narrowly missing the turret of fire that came out ofStyrbjörn's mouth. I casted my flying spell and saw how the fire breath went quite a long way, conveniently burning another group of Draugrs and Bondi's to ash. I flew a bit higher before looking down and dive bombing towards Styrbjörn. Activating Sword Fury, I slashed down and the flaming undead met it with his bare fists. A shockwave went out that pushed away the surrounding houses and left a massive crater under Styrbjörn's feet. I gritted my teeth as I felt the Chi in my Sword Fury being burned away and Styrbjörn gaining ground. Then Gunhild came back from the rubble and pierced his side since most of the flames were trying to match my attack. Styrbjörn gave up and dodged to the right, allowing my weakened Sword Fury to cleave a portion of his arm off. The flaming undead punched me in the face and I was flung far away, leaving a crater on landing. Blinking away the white spots, I rubbed my chin and watched as Styrbjörn parried every one of Gunhild's sword swings with his remaining fist.

"_**Gryttr Ham. Auka Atrið"**_ Casting my magic, I put away my Light Sword and activated Advent of the Jade Warrior. I Chi Burst forward when Gunhild flew back and met Styrbjörn's flaming fist with my ice one. Our elemental attacks clashed and mist flew everywhere, coating the area in a moist air. I was the loser of the exchange as his fist was barely covered in frost while mine had heavy burns. Not wanting to leave it there, I lunged forward to do it again and Styrbjörn was happy to do so. Yet the moment our fists were about to meet, I dodged under and hit his stomach. Freezing his midsection, I dodged another fist and connected with the side of his face. Styrbjörn, seemingly enraged, grabbed me by the neck and tried to heat up his palm.

"_**Valea Pulsului!" **_Gunhild came to my rescue and placed her hands in the undead's face. An air cannon hit Styrbjörn's face and sent him flying back. I was able to breathe again and winced at the burns on my neck, my Chi working on healing it. I cursed when Styrbjörn stood up; the only real damage present was his missing arm and some minor frostbite (and to an undead, I don't think that really qualifies as damage).

"We're not making much progress." I said as I rubbed my head and Gunhild nodded.

"Indeed. I heard stories of Styrbjörn's mighty strength and it seems they weren't exaggerated. As expected from the human blessed by Surtr." The Valkyrie dropped that bomb like it was nothing.

"…Surtr? As in the Primordial Fire Giant Surtr?" I stared blankly at her nod. "…You didn't think to bring this up before?"

"I forgot." Gunhild shrugged and ignored my deadpanned, observing me. "I must say, I am impressed by your strength. If you weren't a Yokai then you have made a fine Einherjar."

"…I'm human."

"…Wait really!? But how-" Styrbjörn roared and lunged at us, forcing us to dodge. He slammed his fist on the ground and fire spread everywhere. I sent Chi Spears to stop the spread and crossed my arms, blocking a flaming kick. I grabbed Styrbjörn's leg and slammed him on the ground, creating a crater on impact. I took out my sword to cut it off but Styrbjörn shot a fireball at my face and I had to lean back. He quickly got up and caught Gunhild's sword, head butting her in the nose. The Valkyrie bleed but that didn't stop her and she head butted the undead back. She pried her sword from his grip and left a large cut across his chest. Gunhild dodged Styrbjörn's punch and flew back, sending dozens of wind blades. They hit him but left minor cuts and he charged at Gunhild.

I intercepted Styrbjörn and kicked him in the face, forcing him to stumble back. Gunhild chose to stay back and belt Styrbjörn with countless spells while I faced him head on. The Pjága soon had difficulty counter attacking, my superior speed allowed me to weave by any attack he sent and whenever he tried to retreat, Gunhild's endless stream of spells would make that near impossible. After plunging my blade into his torso, I cut a large portion of it off and backed off when he breathed out fire. He tried to rush at me but was sent flying by Gunhild's wind cannon and landed in the rubble. Seeing him trying to stand, I Chi Burst to him and aimed to cut off his head.

Unfortunately, the moment my sword was about to do so, a Bóndi Draugr in the form of a bull rammed into me. Annoyed by the interruption, I grabbed the Bull Bóndi by the head and twisted, ripping it off. Tossing it to the side, I saw Gunhild being assaulted by multiple Bondi's in the form of eagles and rushed to help her.

"_**Sutr's Ferr Sunnan!" **_I heard Styrbjörn chant and quickly Chi Burst to the side, dodging a huge blade of fire. The blade sliced clean through the ground and left a deep scar, a trench being formed. I looked over and saw Styrbjörn holding a large sword made out of flames with both hands (he created a hand of fire for his missing one). He lifted the sword again and I could the feel the heat before it even arrived. He slashed down and I hurriedly dodged to the right, the blade leaving another deep burning trench. Every swing Styrbjörn made left a blaze of destruction and I had to run away before I was turned to ash. After a wide sweep that nearly got me if I didn't fly up in time, I noticed how his magical energy decreased sharply and his sword dimmed. I dive bombed the undead and used the moment to deal a fatal blow.

I only noticed when I was in front of Styrbjörn that he was smiling. Encasing myself in dense ice armor, I wasn't able to dodge at this distance and took the blade of fire head on. "Arghhhh!" I yelled out in pain as the sword burned through my Touki and ice, leaving a searing wound on my shoulder. A shockwave rang out as I was sent flying from the attack and smashed through multiple buildings. I slammed my feet down on the ground and tried to stop; leaving two long trenches through the destruction. I finally stopped and knelt down, taking a minute to catch my breath. My Chi was working overtime to heal the burns on my shoulder and Jade's ice powers were making it easier. 'Note to self, get Jade something she really wants later.' I wryly smiled as I stood up and stretched my back. If it wasn't for Jade, those flames would have burned right through my shoulder and possibly damaged my insides. I don't think my Chi would have been able to heal that. 'I really need to get some armor or somethi-'

"_**Vinea Capiant!" **_My train of thought ended there as vines came out of the ground under me and I was forced to dodge. I looked over and saw a group of people in armor. They all had light, crystal like skin with pointy ears and blue eyes. Their armor was light green and very expensive looking. They were all attractive. We stared at each other in silence and after a minute of nothing happening, I chose to respond.

"I'll just say this now; whatever you think I've done…you're probably right." They lunged at me after that. I parried multiple spears and grabbed an Elf with a dagger, tossing her to others. Kicking an Elf in the stomach, I jumped over him when he kneeled and punched another one in the face. They waved their hands and many orbs of lights appeared, rushing at me. Meeting all the orbs with my Chi Swords, they exploded in the air and the explosions pushed the Elves back. One Elf tried to hit me from above but I dodged the thrust and grabbed the spear. The Elf did not let go and I slammed him against the ground, knocking him out. Another elf tried to tackle me but I kneed him in the face and he dropped to the ground.

"_**Resurgens Tridentina Synodus!" **_An elf woman in robes waved her staff and large magic circles appeared on the ground. I saw vines come out the ground and they intertwined together, forming into the shape of large tree humanoids. Before I could face the monsters, Styrbjörn arrived at the scene and I had to dodge his flame sword.

'Like I didn't have enough problems!' I internally cursed, getting ready for a tough battle but was surprised to see the Elves turn their attention from me to the undead. The tree humanoids rushed at Styrbjörn but he dodged their attacks and sliced through them. Multiple Elf warriors tried to pierce him but he waved his blade and they were flung back with third degree burns (even their armor started to melt).

"Die Hellspawn!" The Elf woman attacked Styrbjörn with her staff in rage and the undead cut it in half, leaving a burnt mark across her chest. The woman didn't care however and took out a dagger, hoping to dig out his eye. Styrbjörn wasn't going to give her that chance and grabbed her by the throat with his flame hand, the skin on her neck roasting. I rushed forward and slashed at him. He blocked my blade and I pushed him back, retreating with the Elf woman. Styrbjörn tried to chase after us but more Elf warriors attacked him and he was held up. Though it wasn't looking good because the Elves were barely doing any damage and were getting their asses handed to them.

"Not to tell you your job but they won't last much longer against him at this rate." I said to the Elf woman as she cast a healing spell on her burnt neck. If it weren't for the Elves good teamwork then many of them would have died by now. The woman glared at me.

"And what do you suggest we do!? Leave our home and people to die!?"

"I was going to suggest a tactical retreat but you can do whatever you want." I shrugged and the woman looked at me in suspicion before standing up.

"We won't leave until this monster pays for what he's done." The Elf woman picked up her broken staff and stepped forward to join the fight. I watched as she sent multiple magic spells at Styrbjörn and he melted them, sending a wave of flames at the woman. She flew in the air and rained down wood pillars with Nordic symbols. He burned those too. Observing the fight for a second, I activated Chi Vision and scouted the area. Vargas and Maven were currently fighting in the northern area of the city while Melissa and Samantha were fighting in the south. Gunhild was almost done dealing with those Bóndi Dragurs and Aindrea was wrecking havoc somewhere east. I couldn't find Brynhildr or Adrian.

'Okay, let's go-' I made to walk away but Styrbjörn lunged at me and cut at my torso. I jumped over the blade and kicked him in the face. "Hey! There's an entire group behind you that wants to kill you! Go fight them!" I yelled in annoyance but the undead didn't care and kept trying to cut me to pieces. The Elves also joined the fight and didn't bother to worry where they hit, forcing me to dodge some of their attacks. Punching Styrbjörn in the face with a Seismic Fist, a part of the undead fell apart and he glared at me in anger with his remaining eye. His aura started to grow. 'Oh what now?'

"_**Hēdher-Līcer Jǫtunn!" **_A huge pillar fire appeared behind Styrbjörn and it slowly morphed into a humanoid form. The fire humanoid was 12 meters tall with a massive sword and lava like armor covering its body. It looked down at me with its piercing red eyes.

"…Oh screw it; I'm making a Chi Giant next." Then the massive sword came down.

* * *

**Northern Area**

Maven watched in surprise as a Lesser Fire Giant was summoned to the Elf city and swung down, carving out a long trail of flames. She could feel the heat and rumbling even from her distance. Vargas was busy dealing with a crowd Draugrs while she hovered above a group of elves. They were the original residents of this city and hid from the battle in certain fortified houses. Both party members arrived when the Draugrs nearly forced their way through such a house and attacked the undead. The mage put up wind walls to stop the Draugrs and tossed them towards the Holy Sword user, who was using said weapon to great use. After plunging his Holy Sword into the head of the last Draugr, Vargas took a step back and huffed as it turned to ash.

"At least they won't have problems cleaning up." Vargas looked up at the floating mage and nodded towards the rampaging giant. "Go help him; I'll get these people to a safer place." Maven blushed and stared in the direction of the battle before giving thanks. She summoned her Roc and hopped on its back before flying towards the giant. A large Bóndi Draugr in the form of an undead dragon tried to intercept them but the Roc just teleported behind it and Maven threw a lightning bolt at it. One of its wings was burnt and it roared in anger, lunging for the mage. The Roc just teleported again.

Maven had her familiar do this several times and by their fifth teleport, the Bóndi was fully fried and it fell to the ground. Not paying any mind to the destroyed Draugr, Maven flew closer to the fight and wryly smiled when she saw Pierce dodging the swings of the massive sword. He always has to be in the middle of the biggest mess doesn't he? "Get me closer." Maven commanded and her familiar picked up speed, heading right for the Fire Giant. The mage lifted her staff and a magic circle appeared in front of her, ready to help her teammate.

"_**Læ!" **_Maven quickly put a barrier to block a lightning bolt and narrowed her eyes at where it came from. In the sky above her floated a woman. She had charcoal black skin and bright red eyes, showing her status as a Pjága. She was wearing a long blue coat, a black sheep headpiece, and an odd looking staff sparking with lightning.

"Thorbjǫrg…" Maven said softly and the undead Seiðr waved her staff, the sky above suddenly becoming cloudy. Thunder could be heard within the clouds and lightning started striking the ground continuously. Nordic magic circles revolved around Thorbjǫrg and Maven did the same. The mage knew of the undead woman in front of her. One of the best battle oriented Seiðrs ever and the personal mage of the God of Thunder once upon a time, Thorbjǫrg was one of the more well known Seiðrs (at least in the Magician community). This was going to be a tough battle.

And Maven couldn't stop smiling at the chance to fight the Seiðr.

"_**Læ Jafnaðr!"**_

_"__**Flammis Acribus Malestrom!"**_

A lightning spear and fire storm charged at each other, causing an explosion as they met. The firestorm was instantly overwhelmed and Maven's familiar teleported away, the lightning spear vaporizing the house it hit. The instant she reappeared, she needed to do so again to dodge another spell.

It seemed like Pierce was on his own. As Maven fought Thorbjǫrg, another encounter was happening in the center of the city. Brynhildr frowned as she stood in the grand hall of the Elder Trees. She had come to this hall a couple of years ago on a mission with her leader. The former Brynhildr and her team were to supervise the relocation of an Elf tribe that wanted to leave Midgard but didn't want to go to Alfheim. They helped in creating a pocket dimension for the Light Elves and without the constant annoyance that was humanity (at least to them) they got to work building their new home. The grand hall of the Elder Trees was one of their more majestic structures; she always liked how it had a perfect combination of nature and steel.

But that beautiful hall was no longer intact. Many murals and statues were shattered with all the colorful trees burned to ash. In the center was a large, freshly cut stomp and Talien sat on top. He was playing with white, ethereal cloth and looked up when Brynhildr got closer.

"Fairer to look upon than the sun but the Dark-elves are blacker than pitch." Talien spoke in Old Norse before snorting. "Humans really do love their prejudices, don't they?" The cloth blackened before turning to dust. Brynhildr's face gave nothing away.

"I don't know about prejudice but the elf I'm looking at sure makes pitch look pretty."

"Humph." Talien smirked and Brynhildr's gaze went behind him, to the dark hall that leads into the main chamber. The Elf King saw her look and stood up. "It doesn't have to be this way."

"It doesn't?" The Chief Valkyrie quirked a brow and he shook his head.

"No, if it's for the Draugr's earlier then I must apologize. I had limited resources on hand and had to use them to stop my…unsavory pursuers. Also, you did attack me first." Brynhildr's eye twitched at the way he said "resources" but kept calm. "I do not want war with Asgard and will pay any debt I have with them before this day is over. I promise." Talien bowed at that and showed his exposed back, showing his sincerity (then again to an Ultimate-Class being, an exposed back isn't much).

Brynhildr narrowed her eyes at the Elf King, trying to find any deceit and failed to. Maybe he was being hones- 'Mimir's absent ass he is.' The thought didn't even finish before Brynhildr internally sneered and crossed her arms. "So you want to avoid war with Asgard?"

"Yes." Talien smiled and she leaned her head back in thought before nodding.

"Alright then. Give me the Fragment of the Andvaranaut you stole." Brynhildr didn't hide the sneer this time as Talien stiffened.

"I don't know what you're talkin-"

"I know you do and it wasn't a question." She said coldly and Talien frowned, the air becoming tense. They glared at each other for a second and Brynhildr snorted. "I was expecting that but at least play along for a bit longer."

"…You don't want to make an enemy of us girls. Turn around and leave before Zeth turns his wrath to Asgard." Talien threatened the Chief Valkyrie and she went quiet.

"…You know there is something I don't understand." Brynhildr tilted her head at Talien. "You guys haven't exactly been discreet in your mass recruitment and practically everyone has heard of the Jorogumo attacking the Shinto Shrine in Japan. I don't understand why Zeth has no problems with making enemies with any pantheon. Even with those monsters on his side, he doesn't believe he can beat more than one pantheon?"

"You can't hope to comprehend-"

"Oh no, I get it!" Brynhildr cut off Talien and smiled. "I mean, with that man as your Pjága, destroying Olympus would become much easier. It's a good plan!" Talien narrowed his eyes at her sarcastic words. "Of course that would be the case if he was there."

"…I guess we'll find out soon enough."

"No, no you won't." Brynhildr said and she took out her claymore, pointing it at Talien. "Give me the fragment and stand trial for the damage you've caused, this is your last warning."

"...You know what, you can-" Talien quickly took out a staff and put a barrier up, blocking a beam of sunlight. Brynhildr waved her hand and a magic circle appeared under the Elf King, propelling him upwards. Adrian flew in with a sunlight aura and slashed at Talien. The Elf King blocked the sword with a magic circle and waved his staff at Brynhildr, a black mist heading towards her. The mist melted everything it touched but the Chief Valkyrie ignored it and flew right through. Her armor shone as it pushed back the mist and Talien had to block her claymore with his staff.

'Asgardian steel.' Talien thought in annoyance. He pushed both combatants back and summoned the many Draugrs that were rampaging in the city. He furrowed his brows when he saw how little Draugrs arrived and that none of his Pjága's answered his call. 'Are they fighting the others?' The Elf King couldn't think on it any longer because Adrian destroyed a large portion of the Draugrs with his sunlight and Brynhildr tried to take his head off. Refocusing on the battle, Talien pushed back the Chief Valkyrie and created multiple magic circles. _**"Inmortuae Troglodytarum."**_ Tall ape-like creatures with horns and green fur started pouring out of the magic circles. They roared at their master's enemies and charged.

Adrian dodged under a wide swing from a beast and cut it clean in half. He watched in surprise as it dissolved and green smoke came out; it was absorbed into the other beasts. Not paying this any mind, he started to cut down more beasts but found it harder to cut them down as time passed. After cutting down his tenth enemy, the Emissary hurriedly blocked a beast's fist and frowned at the force behind it. 'They got stronger.' Adrian thought and pierced right through the beast's heart, leaving a burning hole in its place. It dissolved like the others and the same green smoke came out. Before they could absorb the smoke (at least that's what Adrian thinks they're doing), he sent a wave of sunlight out and it successfully erased the smoke.

"Well done." Brynhildr floated down and sent out chains to immobilize the beasts. "I also notice how they got stronger from their fallen essence. You could also seal them away quite easily; their resistance towards it is abysmal." The pile of beasts in a sealing barrier behind her gave credit to her statement. Adrian nodded and wiped out the chained beasts with a sunlight wave, along with the smoke. They couldn't enjoy their small victory for long because they heard clapping and they saw Talien was the one doing it. He floated in the air, above another dozen beasts, with a smug smile.

"Well done, to find the weakness of my Trolls and counter it so fast is impressive." Brynhildr and Adrian frowned at his words. "So…how about this?" The Elf King snapped his fingers and one of his Trolls took a step forward, putting both members on guard. They were confused about Talien's confidence.

Their questions were shortly answered. The Troll roared, getting roars from its brethren and they watched…as the leading Troll was ripped apart by two others. Adrian and Brynhildr stood in shock at the sudden brutality and soon, every Troll was killing each other with rapid success. It wasn't until they noticed the large cloud of green smoke that gathered in the air that they came to.

"Shit!" Adrian figured out what they were doing and sent a sword wave of sunlight at the fighting trolls. Talien blocked it with a magic circle and sent balls of black liquid at the Chief Valkyrie who tried to flank around. Both combatants could only watch as two Trolls were left standing and the large cloud of smoke rushed into them. The transformation was instant. The muscles of the Trolls contracted and expanded, likely to make room for the granted power. They roared in pain as they started to grow, reaching 12 meters in height and gaining an incredibly muscular physique. 'Was that their limit?' Adrian thought in wonder, seeing how some green smoke remained in that air and wasn't absorbed by the Trolls.

The Emissary couldn't think of it because one of the (now massive) Trolls rushed at him and tried to squash him. He dodged to the right and slashed at the Trolls arm, barely leaving a small cut. Flying above another swing, Adrian landed on its shoulder and pierced his sword into the Troll's ear. While the size difference made it so he couldn't pierce deep, it still made the Troll grab its ear in pain and he sent out multiple beams of sunlight. Adrian slowly started to injure the Troll and he seemed to have the upper hand…until the Troll absorbed more of the green smoke, healing all of its injuries. Adrian cursed at this and hurriedly dodged another swing, the Troll now having a second wind.

Talien watched as the Emissary and the Chief Valkyrie fought their respective Trolls, having difficulty killing them with their increased durability and healing smoke (the Trolls didn't leave them a chance to take out the smoke). He continued watching for a second before turning around and flying deeper into the hall. Talien knew that those Trolls won't be able to kill both of them but they would slow them down. Even if he stayed, they were both too slippery for the Elf King's spells to hit them.

'Shame Froid died.' The Elf King thought in regret at his fellow General's death. Not because of some sense of comradery, but because the Vampire Lord helped Talien make those Trolls. They were a rare breed of Trolls found in Svartalfheim and Froid helped increase the strength they gained from each other's essence. While it was disappointing that any intelligence they had vanished and could only grow to a certain point, they were still prime cannon fodder. Unfortunately the Vampire was killed and Talien couldn't make more on his own. The Trolls fighting the two were some of his last. 'It doesn't matter; it will all be worth it.' At this point, there was no going back and Talien could only remember his end goal. All he needed was to help the Elf Elder to breach the defenses for the second fragment and he already had plans for the last one.

'It would all be worth it.' Talien thought that over and over again in his mind until he reached a large, destroyed door. Then he entered.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

I Chi Burst from the house I was on, the Fire Giant's foot destroying it as it landed. I pelted it with Chi Swords to freeze the Giant but it just swung at me again, forcing me to dodge. The fight kept going like this for a while, the giant trying to land a hit and me trying to wound it in any way. We were both pretty unsuccessful. After dodging a downward slash, I flew up to the giant's face and tried to skewer a large Chi Spear in its eye. The Fire Giant brought up a hand to stop it and tried to swat me away. I flew up higher to avoid the hand and rubbed my chin in thought.

'Now what?' I thought as the Fire Giant picked up some houses and lit them on fire, chucking them at me. I dodged those too. Fighting the Giant was oddly easier then facing Styrbjörn; while it had greater strength and durability, my speed far outstripped it (doesn't matter how much strength you have if you can't land a hit). I had plenty of techniques that could deal lasting damage but that would take a good portion of my Chi away and Styrbjörn was still around. And I do not like the Light Elves' chances against the guy. 'I should really hurry up though. Adrian said they found Tali-'

"Come down here and fight like a true warrior, you coward!" I blinked at the booming voice and looked down at the Fire Giant. It was glaring at me in annoyance.

"Did…Did you just talk?"

"Yes I did! Now come down here!" The Giant said loudly and pointed his sword at me. It took me a second to react.

"…Why the hell would I do that?"

"Because it's cowardly to use such underhanded methods in a fight!" The Fire Giant started to lecture me on warrior's etiquette and I made an amused smile.

"Yeah no, I'm good up here." I crossed my arms and floated in the air, the giant gaining a shocked expression.

"W-Where's your warrior's honor!?"

"Never had one, never will." I said nonchalantly and looked down on the seething (actually I think that's just his regular skin color) Fire Giant. "But speaking of honor, do you not realize that your summoner is an undead?"

"I do and I will bring the accused to justice but the descendants of Surtr fulfill their word. I will fight for my summoner no matter their state of existence, be they in life or death." The Fire Giant said with vigor and I blankly stared.

"…Well that's stupid, don't do that." I deadpanned and looked at Jade on my shoulder. "If I'm ever turned into a zombie, just kick the reviver's ass." She looked at me in confusion before giving a cute nod.

"Enough of this!" The Fire Giant was tired of the games and slammed his foot down. "Come down and fight!" I stared down at him for a second before asking a question I've had since he started talking.

"Can you not fly?"

"…" I waited for an answer but he just glared at me in silence.

"…Seriously?" I gave a wide smile in amusement and he started to shake.

"I said enough!" The giant started to build up flames on his sword and sent a large sword wave at me. I flew out of the way and watched as it reached high up, leaving a trail of fire in the suddenly clouded sky. I dive bombed the giant and slashed at his shoulder with Sword Fury, cutting through his lava armor. He grunted in pain and swung again, leaving him open for another slash at his wrist. He elbowed me away and sent a punch.

"_**Kapp Qrk!"**_ A Viking ship made of wind slammed into the giant's side and made him stumble, allowing me to slash his exposed neck. I looked over at Gunhild and we nodded at each other, rushing at the giant. Even with Gunhild's help, the giant's durability was still a pain to deal with but I had just the thing to deal with it. Telling Gunhild to hold him off for a second, I flew up in the air and started to gather large amounts of Chi.

"_**Pleistocene Epoch!" **_I threw my large ball of Chi at the Fire Giant and as expected, he tried to dodge it. Thankfully, the Valkyrie tripped the giant with a wind rope spell and the attack hit dead on. A huge explosion of frost and mist spread out, completely covering the street. Gunhild used a spell to clear the mist and we saw how the Fire Giant was covered head to toe in pieces of ice, his supernatural fire already melting them. Gunhild quickly created multiple magic circles and plastered them over the giant to seal it.

The Fire Giant lifted up his sword to stop her but I didn't let him. Ignoring my increasing fatigue, I activated Sword Fury again and cut off the giant's hand. "Arghh!" He yelled in pain as his sword and hand fell to the ground, creating a large crater on impact. Gunhild finished her sealing and placed a magic circle on his forehead. The giant's eyes became hazy and soon he laid down, fully knocked out. Making sure it was actually out with Chi Vision, I sighed in relief and sat down on what appeared to be a destroyed wall.

"I wouldn't get comfortable; we still need to deal with Styrbjörn." Gunhild warned as she walked to me and I groaned.

"I know, I know. I'm just taking a breather." I rubbed the place on my chest where Styrbjörn hit me and scratched away the burned, dead flesh. My Chi already formed new flesh underneath and it was slightly pink from the burns. 'Thank Ichiei for healing factors.' If it weren't for the healing abilities Chi gave me then my body would have been a horror show of scars (the ones that aren't deep enough anyway). I took deep breaths as my Chi slowly recovered and looked north after hearing another explosion. I could feel the auras of the elves fighting Styrbjörn and they were fading fast.

"Where are you going?" Gunhild said as I stood up and walked to the fight. I looked back at her in confusion.

"Uhhh, to kill the overly fiery undead?"

"The Elf soldiers have him pinned down for the moment, we should head for the center of the city. Talien should be there." Gunhild said and I narrowed my eyes at her.

"…How do you know that?"

"My Chief messaged me." She lifted her communication ring and I held back a twitch at the obvious answer. Except...

'She's hiding something again.' I internally frowned. Just like before coming to the city, she knew Talien would be here and she knows the Elf King is in the center. "We should still deal with Styrbjörn." Another explosion brought me back from my musings and I chose to question her about that later.

"Why? The Elf soldiers knew what they were getting into, we should use this chance when he's slowed down to attack Talien." Gunhild reasoned.

'…Damn that's cold.' Granted, I didn't really care about the Light Elves either, leaving them to die did leave a bad taste in my mouth. "Yeah and once Styrbjörn is done with them then he'll be our problem. Might as well take him out while we have help." I started to float up and flew towards the fight, leaving Gunhild with a thoughtful expression on her face. I quickly reached the battlefield and arrived just in time to see Styrbjörn slice an Elf in half, burnt insides falling to the ground. I grimaced at the gore but the other elves didn't care and continued to rush him. Even if they weren't much of a match for the former human, they did their fair share of damage and the Pjága had more wounds on its body than before. Unfortunately, it came at the cost of half their numbers and they were slowly losing more. Landing on the ground, I picked up a large pillar and coated it with Chi. I threw it at Styrbjörn and hit him on the side, saving an Elf from being beheaded.

Styrbjörn looked in my direction and I rushed at him, forcing him to block my sword swing. That left him open for the spears of the Elves and he was pierced from the back. He tried to use his fire aura again but my ice Touki negated it and the Elves continued skewering Styrbjörn. He pushed me back and slammed his fist into a nearby Elf, crushing his head to bits. He tried to retreat but a brave Elf jumped on his back and sank his dagger into the undead's neck. Styrbjörn crushed the soldier's arm and tossed him to the side but that left me enough time to cut off his legs.

"_**Vinea Capiant!" **_The moment he fell, the Elf woman from earlier trapped him with vines. Before he could completely burn through the restraints, I lifted my sword and cut clean through his neck. The silence was deafening as the undead's body became stiff and the flames died down, his head falling to the ground. Seeing the red light escaping the head's eyes, I relaxed.

"Arghh!" I watched in surprise as an Elf lifted his mace and smashed Styrbjörn's head to pieces. The other Elve's quickly followed suit and started to beat the undead's body to pieces, rage all over their faces. Slightly unsettled by the scene, I looked away and saw how the Elf woman kneeled by her fallen comrades. She had a hollow look in her eyes and drew symbols on each of their foreheads, doing some sort of prayer. She started to put away their bodies in her space ring shortly after.

"_**Læ Jafnaðr!" **_I heard a loud demonic voice in the distance and saw Maven fighting another Pjága in the sky. She was on her familiar and narrowly dodged a lightning spear, only to be bombarded with more lightning bolts. I moved to help her but a soft voice stopped me.

"Wait." I turned around and saw it was the Elf woman who called out. She was standing a couple feet from me and the rest of the soldiers were also looking at me.

"Yeah?" I said, slightly on guard as the woman stepped forward.

"Thank you." I blinked in surprise when she bowed and the rest of the soldier's also bowed. "You saved us from that monster and helped us get revenge; we can only give you our thanks."

"…Don't worry about it." I didn't help kill Styrbjörn for virtuous reasons but if they want to misunderstand then I won't clear it up. I flew towards the dodging Maven and sent multiple Chi Swords at the spell casting undead. She blocked them with a lightning barrier and sent lightning balls at me. They exploded in midair, forcing me to back away before I was electrocuted. The distraction however left enough time for Maven to take a breather and cast a wide ranged wind spell. It wrapped around the undead in a blanket of wind, trapping her within.

_**"Fulmineum." **_The undead made a long sword of lightning and tried to cut through the barrier but had difficulty doing so.

_**"Gilotîn gwynt!"**_

_**"Nulla Lanceam!"**_

Creating a wind blade above Thorbjǫrg and lunging with a green lance, we attacked her with our respective spells. We weren't able to reach her however because a large tornado came down and covered her entirely. My lance couldn't pierce through the dense winds, only freezing a couple strands of wind before I retreated. Maven and I watched the tornado with caution before it disappeared. We both frowned when Thorbjǫrg was nowhere to be seen.

"Where did she go?" Maven looked around cautiously with multiple magic circles revolving around her. "Pierce?" She called out, probably to ask if I could sense the Pjága but I couldn't find her.

"She's gone." I narrowed my eyes at the sudden quietness around the city. "Along with every Draugr." The mage looked out into the city and saw what I meant. There were no more Draugrs running along the street or huge Bóndi Draugrs wrecking havoc. Even the raging fires were slowly fading away.

"What happened?" Maven asked.

"I don't know. Let's go find out." I flew forward and Maven followed after. We headed for the center of the city, towards the large hall that Gunhild said Talien was. I noticed while flying that many Elves were coming back into the street, soldiers and regular citizens piling into the open.

"Hey guys!" We looked over to see Melissa and Samantha also flying to the hall. We landed at the same time and the Shadow Yokai stepped closer. "What's going on? This really strong Draugr we were fighting suddenly disappeared."

"Ours too. Do you think Talien retreated again?" Maven said and I stepped forward, placing my hands on the pair of large doors. Opening them, we saw the destroyed inside and dozens of corpses of some green monster (two of which were meaner and tougher looking then the rest). Ignoring the mess, I walked passed the bodies and deeper into the hall. I could feel everyone's aura in the main chamber and after walking for a minute, we reached them.

"Oh, you made it. Is everyone okay?" Adrian saw us enter and spoke up. The Emissary was with Vargas and Aindrea, hanging out by the door entrance. Said entrance was to a large room that contained glass cases and each one had a barrier over them. The room itself wasn't a mess; many cases were untouched with most of them having some old looking artifacts. It was the large case in the middle that was different. It had its own podium and it was in a cage, the barrier around it seemingly of higher grade then the rest. The problem? There was nothing in it. Brynhildr and Gunhild were observing the empty case, their faces completely blank as if whatever was inside wasn't important or they had no idea what it was. The look Adrian sent my way revealed that he didn't believe that either.

"All this for a private tour of a museum? Damn Talien sure does have a warped love for history." I said as I approached the Valkyries and Gunhild snorted.

"I guess we all need a hobby."

"Or new life choices but that would be asking for too much." I walked around the case and tapped on the barrier. "What was in here?"

"No clue." The Valkyrie didn't skip a beat and answered.

"Yes you do." I didn't let it go this time however and called her out on her lie.

"Excuse me?" Gunhild looked offended

"You knew that Talien would come here, you knew why he was in those catacombs and you know what was in this case. You two know more than what you're telling and honestly...I could care less that you are lying to us. You guys haven't put us in real danger by doing so but Talien has escaped twice and we probably could have done something to prevent it the second time if you guys were to tell us the truth. Maybe come up with a plan or just better use of our team." I took a deep breath before letting out a sigh and sagging. "Okay look, I know we just met and there's no real trust built but we already kicked ass together! I'm not asking for the key to the vaults of Asgard or an invitation to the next slumber party of the Valkyries but give us something!" Finished with my rant, I noticed how quiet it was and looked around. Everyone was staring at me with different levels of surprise and amusement.

"You have no idea how alliances between factions work, do you?" Brynhildr asked with a quirked smile and I opened my mouth to say 'yes' before shutting it. Sophia and Damian were working with us against Shiruku without their clan knowing and Amaterasu specifically said the Shinto can't be directly involved without being dragged into the war. Brynhildr being the Chief Valkyrie was a major aspect of the Norse Pantheon and her actions speak for them as a whole. So yeah, this was technically my first real alliance with another faction.

"...I plead the Fifth." I said with a neutral voice and Brynhildr quirked a brow.

"...I don't know what that means."

"..." My statement stood. She saw my answer and sighed, running a hand through her hair. The Chief Valkyrie fell into deep thought, looking to each member of the party and her gaze fell back to me. She stared for a second before answering.

"Alright." Brynhildr simply said and Gunhild looked shocked.

"Brynhildr!? Are you sure!? What abo-"

"It's okay." Brynhildr raised her hand and stopped Gunhild. "He's right, they've earned the truth and it will only hurt us to hide it any longer." While Gunhild didn't look assured, she still nodded in the end and let her chief talk. "So, what do you want to know?" I looked back at the others at Brynhildr's question and most of them shrugged, Adrian nodding to give me the go ahead.

"What was in the case? And why did Talien come for it?" I asked and Brynhildr looked at the case.

"It was a gift to the Light Elves in Gotland, given to them by the original Brynhildr. A Fragment...of the Andvaranaut." While that got no reaction from the majority of the team, Aindrea and Maven were both surprised.

"I thought it was destroyed..." Maven said with a thoughtful look and Brynhildr nodded her head.

"In a way it was. But, their original ability is no longer possible and Brynhildr planned for them to never be restored."

"Um, can we slow down a little?" I raised my hand and got their attention. "Can you explain what the Andvaranaut is? And why does Talien want it?"

"The Andvaranaut is an ancient magic ring, crafted by the Dwarf Andvari and it has the ability to find all the gold in the world." Maven started to explain what the ring was and the significance it had in the legendary saga, the Völsunga_. _By the end of her explanation, I was still pretty confused.

"So what? Talien wants the ring so he can become really rich?" I would get it if he was a common thief but being a General of a God and an Ultimate-Class, money doesn't seem like an issue. "Does Zeth not pay well?"

"It's not the money he's after, not primarily anyway." Brynhildr shook her head. "He's after what it could do now."

"...And that is?" I asked since she didn't go one. The Chief Valkyrie tilted her head and looked down at her ring, rubbing it. She looked concentrated for a second before coming to.

"We have time." Brynhildr said and walked to the side, sitting on a large piece of rock. "If you want to understand everything then we need to start from the beginning. The very beginning." Glancing to the others, I chose to sit down on the steps of the podium and everyone else followed suit. Brynhildr waited for us to all get comfortable before starting. "While I should probably explain the inner workings of the Norse first, I get the feeling you guys don't really care about that." She got a round of agreements and smiled. "Well okay then, I guess we should start with the Ancient Kingdoms...and the Völsunga."

'...I miss popcorn.' I idly thought as Brynhildr began her tale.

* * *

In the olden days of Scandinavia, time had a funny way of keeping in place. Countless kings, queens and lords littered the ancient land of the Nordic people and to these rulers, war and peace was like the seasons. They came and went but never broke away from a cycle, no matter how much time had passed. Eventually, a time came where every ruler carved out their own territories and grew to power from there. Castles were built, armies rose, and people gathered to these beacons of stability. While conflict was a trait every race possessed, natural or otherwise, the Nordic people were well known for worshiping the strong and valorous. People fought everywhere, rulers against other rulers, warriors against armies, hell even mercenaries that wanted to make a name for themselves joined in any fight they could. In those times, if you were above someone it was because you had earned your place and it wasn't gifted to you. True warriors of great strength were in abundance and whenever they met on the battlefield, countless ordinary men would retreat not to get caught by the storm.

But with so many powerful warriors came a different problem, an era of stalemates. Every ruler had a champion that could match the other's tit for tat and no matter how many fights occurred, no one could gain ground on each other. It was an odd situation that many Nordic people weren't used to dealing with because to them, warriors and kings die all the time so having a time where no one was dying was incredibly strange. But this strange occurrence inadvertently brought Scandinavia into a new situation. While fights still happened, the age of stability brought growth and people started to thrive in their respective kingdoms. Populations grew, cities were built to house those populations and jobs that didn't involve fighting such as merchants and accountants were pursued. Rulers grew wealthier and warriors grew complacent, battles became rare with how no one could beat the other. It was truly a prosperous age with many calling it a Golden Age.

And then one day, this Golden Age caught the attention of a certain golden, wingless dragon. Fafnir, the Dragon King made his home in Scandinavia and the people there took it in stride. At this point in time, humanity was still very heavily reliant on religion and magic was common knowledge; this was also in the middle of the Dark Ages so human historians had problems recording anything that happened during this period. So with the Dragon King and one of the last remaining dragons taking up residence in their region, many rulers saw this as a boon. Contrary to popular belief, while Fafnir's greed was great, it was not as overwhelming as legends portrayed. The first batch of gold and treasure ever hoarded by the Golden Dragon was given voluntarily, by a king that wanted Fafnir's protection. Seeing no problem with the request, Fafnir accepted the money and the king went back happy. Then another one came to ask the same thing and he agreed to that as well. Then another one came. Then another. The trend continued and soon, the majority of the rulers in Scandinavia were under the protection of the Dragon King. And for a time, their tributes were money well spent. Crooks, tyrants and bandits started to avoid the kingdoms that had Fafnir's stamp of protection and his presence itself made it so that many supernatural beings avoided causing trouble in the Nordic countries, more than the Norse Pantheon's presence did funnily enough. Relative peace continued and all was well in Scandinavia.

Then something changed. One day the Dwarf and master craftsmen Andvari created the Andvaranaut, a magic ring that can help with finding large sources of gold. Andvari used his creation to gain a vast fortune before it was stolen by the Evil God of the Norse, Loki and he cursed whoever owned it to become madly obsessed with gold. Loki, being a master magician and a God, found the curse to be more interesting than anything and hatched a "fun" plot. He disguised himself as a king and offered the ring to Fafnir. The Dragon King did not see through the Evil God's disguise and took the ring, sealing his fate the moment he received it. To the already gold loving Dragon, the ring's curse enhanced his greed and it consumed Fafnir. He started to ask for more treasure from the kings of Scandinavia and slowly increased the amount every time it was time for a new tribute. It did not matter how small or insignificant the amount was, every piece of gold was to be given to him or the consequences would be grave. With the Andvaranaut, no piece of gold could be hidden from Fafnir and one day, a king tried to hide his wealth from the Dragon King.

Fafnir didn't like that. He stormed the king's home and stole everything, burning down the castle as he left. That day was an epiphany for Fafnir. Instead of waiting for the tributes, he chose to personally go hunting for all the gold the Andvaranaut could find. No matter who had it. Many kings sent their champions and powerful mercenaries to stop the Dragon King but none could match Fafnir's power and countless treasuries were robbed. The Norse Pantheon was soon alerted to Fafnir's actions and Odin personally tried to stop his greedy rampage. Upon meeting, Odin tried to reason with Fafnir but he didn't listen and threatened the God King to stay out of his way. From anyone else, the Raven God wouldn't have been fazed but Fafnir and him had quite the history. In his earlier years of warring and conquest, Fafnir was Odin's Vanguard. They had fought together many times so seeing his hostile attitude saddened Odin and he got out of the Dragon King's way.

Odin never noticed the curse radiating from the Andvaranaut. With his magic skills, Odin could have done something about the curse but it was Loki's own powerful magic and Fafnir's prior greedy nature that clouded the Raven God's suspicions. Not wanting to go to war with his friend but not wanting to let him continue, Odin made a decision. Summoning his oldest and strongest Valkyrie, Brynhildr, he gave her a task. Find a great warrior to slay Fafnir and seal his soul, bringing it to Asgard. Finding the request a bit unreasonable, something she made real clear to Odin, Brynhildr accepted nonetheless and made her way to Scandinavia to start searching. The Original Chief Valkyrie scoured the lands, meeting many warriors and so called masters, testing their might personally. Brynhildr was a well known perfectionist in Asgard and her nit pickiness was legendary among the other Valkyries. She found flaws within every candidate she discovered. Some were too slow, other's were too stupid, many uncivilized, countless arrogant. For months Brynhildr searched and one day she heard of a hero in the far lands of Gotland. A hero known for his master swordsmanship and incredible survival instincts, Sigmund. Brynhildr made the trip to his home but when she arrived she learned that Sigmund had fallen in battle and was told so by his son. A young man named Sigurd.

Slightly annoyed for her wasted trip, she quickly let it go and accepted Sigurd's offer of food and tea. Sigurd asked why she was looking for her late father and she explained her search for a warrior to slay the Dragon King, Fafnir. Brynhildr's quest was quite well known at this point and she found no harm in telling the son of Sigmund her aim. She _was_ surprised however when he asked if he could be her champion and shortly after, laughed. It wasn't the fact that a man Sigurd's age asked to be her champion, she had heard plenty ask. It was Sigurd's looks that filled her with doubt. He was the very definition of a pretty boy. Shiny black hair, ruby like eyes, a slim build, and skin that actually looked softer then Brynhildr's. He didn't have a warrior's aura and looked like he would be better suited as a politician or a poet. Or a boy toy. Regardless, Brynhildr wasn't one to deny someone their chance and led Sigurd to an open field, to test the young man's skills. Giving him a training sword, she told Sigurd to come at her with everything he had.

Brynhildr would be the first to admit that in her very long life, be it as the Chief Valkyrie or former advisor to Odin, that she had never been more humbled than the moment she gave him the go ahead. Moving with speed and strength that did not belong to a human but with so much finesse that she was slightly mesmerized, Sigurd took her apart. Even with her Half-God physique, she had no chance against Sigurd in a straight sword fight and resorted to her using her magic. While the fight quickly ended once she did so, Sigurd didn't make it easy and she struggled a bit to beat him even with her magic. Brynhildr found her champion. She told him of her master plan to take down Fafnir and Sigurd packed up, following her to fulfill that plan. Sigurd's swordsmanship was incredible but Brynhildr knew that would only take him so far against the Golden Dragon. They needed an edge against him, a weapon that could cut through his tough scales and dense flesh. A dragon slaying weapon so to speak and Brynhildr knew exactly where to get it. Making a trip to the tallest mountain in Norway, Galdhøpiggen, they came to visit the Dwarf tribe that rested there. The Sons of Ivaldi welcomed both of them and the Chief Valkyrie asked them to create a weapon that could kill Fafnir. They agreed and after making both of them fetch multiple pieces of legendary items that had barely anything to do with the weapon, the Dwarves got to work. Using the shattered remains of Sigmund's prized blade, at the request of Sigurd, the Dwarves used their sweat, blood, and tears to create the ultimate dragon slaying weapon. The Demonic Emperor Sword, Gram. The Sons of Ivadi were incredibly proud of their handiwork.

They were less so when Sigurd accidentally cut their prized anvil in half with Gram. And so Brynhildr and Sigurd marched on towards Fafnir's abode. After a fight that threatened to destroy the mountain that Fafnir made his home and toiling for a day and night, the Golden Dragon King was defeated. Taking the soul of Fafnir back to Asgard, Odin prepared the ritual to resurrect his former brother in arms. To say Fafnir was ashamed of his actions once he came back to life was a major understatement. He was horrified by what he did and the lives he took under the influence of the Andvaranaut. Odin eventually figured out that it was Loki that reduced Fafnir to this state and planned to punish the Evil God but the Dragon King didn't blame him. Not fully anyway. It was his own greedy nature that allowed the cursed ring to control him and went on a self imposed exile to atone for his sins. Odin respected his decision and turned to his Chief Valkyrie, hoping to give her a reward for all her efforts. And Brynhildr did indeed ask for something.

She wanted to give up her title of Chief Valkyrie and explore the world. While shocked at her decision, Odin granted it and Brynhildr walked out the gates of Asgard. She made her way to Scandinavia once more and met with Sigurd at his original home. The former Chief Valkyrie asked the dragon slayer's hand in marriage and after getting over the initial shock, he agreed.

And so Sigurd and Brunhilde, she started using her original name, lived happily ever after.

* * *

"..."

"..."

"..." We all stared at Brynhildr as she finished the story. The silence was deafening. Then I started to clap. In the empty chamber, my light clapping was crystal clear and everyone stared at me weirdly.

"Oh come on, that was a nice story! The happily ever after was kind of cliche but god damn it they earned it!" I said with righteousness and everyone rolled their eyes.

"She still didn't explain what Brunhilde did to the Andvaranaut." Aindrea said and we turned to look at the Chief Valkyrie again.

"I was getting to that." Brynhildr said with a sigh. "Seeing that they took down Fafnir, Odin saw fit to gift Brunhilde with the restored ring and she took it with them on their travels. After exploring the world with Sigurd and doing everything she's ever wanted to do, she came back to Asgard for one last thing."

"What?" Melissa asked in excitement, long since interested in the story and Brynhildr gained a heavy look in her eyes before responding.

"A burial." The room became tense at her words.

"A-A burial?" I asked in shock and she nodded. "What happened? Was she sick? Was there no cure?"

"It wasn't anything like that, she just reached the end of her tether." Brynhildr must have seen my confused face because she continued. "I was being serious when I said she was Odin's oldest Valkyrie." It took me a second to realize what that meant.

"Y-You mean-"

"She reached the end of her lifespan." Maven finished for me and I was stunned. I knew supernatural beings weren't immortal. I knew besides Dragons, everyone dies of old age one day, even Gods. But with thousands of years on them, I never really thought about it when they would reach the final steps. It really puts things in perspective.

"If the records are to be believed, Brunhilde was even older than Odin and was with him from the beginning. That's the reason every Chief Valkyrie takes up the name of Brynhildr. It's close enough to Brunhilde to honor her but doesn't write over her name...Heh, that perverted geezer's symbolic like that." Brynhildr gained a fond smile before coming back. "Anyway, before Brunhilde's burial, she had the Andvaranaut broken into three pieces. She had one sent to a distant relative of Sigurd that was reforged into a normal ring and another to the Light Elves in Gotland for safe keeping. As for what they do once put back together, many in Asgard have theories on it. Some say it's a way into Fafnir's personal treasury. Other's say it's the sword techniques of Sigurd and Brunhilde's magic. A lot just say it's the same as before but it doesn't make you obsessed with gold. Only a select few in the Norse Pantheon know what Brunhilde changed."

"...So what does it do?"

"When all three pieces are rejoined a portal opens to another dimension and in the dimension is a tomb. The Tomb of Sigurd." We all gaped at her words and I put the pieces together.

"Talien...he wants to make Sigurd a Pjága." I said and Brynhildr nodded solemnly. "...Why?"

"Why?" Brynhildr quirked a brow. "Why what?"

"Why that! Why did she leave scavenger hunt for the pieces everywhere!? Why didn't she just cremate Sigurd?! Why didn't she just keep it a secret and have him rest forever in peace!? Why didn't she bury herself with him!? I mean seriously, this was Shiruku all over again! Better then any of those, why didn't Odin just find the dimension and put it in a godly safe, in a supernatural vault, in a normal but still equally deadly volcano!? And I wish you all got that reference but you all don't and your confusion wouldn't entertain me right now!" I wondered if my face was as red as it felt and I slumped down, sitting on the steps again glumly.

"...You're very high strung today." Adrian said with an odd happiness in his voice and I deadpanned.

"It's not that. My problem is that Talien now has two pieces of the Andvaranaut and is probably on the way to the third one as we speak." All their eyes widened when I said that and Vargas abruptly stood up.

"Shit he's right, we were wasting time here!" He turned to Brynhildr in a hurry. "Where's the next fragment!? Come on we have to hur-"

"Um." Gunhild finally chose to speak up and raised her hand. "There's no need to worry about that."

"Why not?" I asked and Gunhild smiled.

"Because we already got it." A woman's voice rang out from behind us and we all turned around to see a new Valkyrie enter the chamber. She tossed something to Brynhildr and the Chief caught it, showing it was a small ring fragmen-

"...Okay how long were you waiting out there for the right moment?" A laugh from the new Valkyrie was all I got.

* * *

**3 Hours Later, Elf City**

I sat on the edge of an open porch, watching the massive funeral from the house I was given. Many wooden podiums were made with every Elf in the city out there to mourn their loss and soldiers burning the bodies. The house was on a tall hill and I had a clear view of the event. After Brynhildr explained how she sent out two of her Valkyries to pick up the last fragment while they faced Talien, we made our way out of the chamber and met with some Elf soldiers. One was coincidentally the Elf sorceress that helped me kill Styrbjörn and she thanked us for chasing out Talien. They offered to give us residence for our help and we took it; everyone was pretty tired from the constant fighting. We were to rest for a while before re-tracking Talien or helping the Homer Team deal with Ferox (he's also an intruder that the Norse want out).

"So this is where you were." I looked back and saw Maven walk up to me. She looked around. "Where's Melissa? I can't find her."

"She's in bed, her fight really tired her out."

"Ah." The mage gave a sound of acknowledgment and crouched next to me, watching the event with me. We stood in silence for a minute or two before I felt her look at me. "Is everything okay?"

"...Is this about my rant earlier?" I asked and she nodded.

"I've never seen you act like that before. You usually take things like that smoother."

"Smooth huh?" I said wistfully. I take in crazy things in lots of ways but smooth ain't one of them. "But thank you."

"...What?"

"Sorry, that wasn't on purpose." I gave an apologetic smile and took a deep breath. "It's just...Sigurd."

"Were you afraid?" Maven asked, sitting down fully and I sighed.

"A bit. And it wasn't because Talien got both fragments or that he's a sword genius or a dragon slayer."

"...Then what?"

"Its...I nearly got my ass fried today by a guy I never heard of." I leaned back against a pillar. "This random guy from this obscure place came back to life and handed my ass to me." Okay, maybe that was a bit of an exaggeration but if I was alone, I wouldn't have liked my chances. It felt like I was fighting the Tyrant again, outmatched in the physical department (my forte) with only my speed keeping me alive and luck playing a big part. I hated that feeling.

"Pierce, just because no has heard of you doesn't mean you're weak. Plenty of masters are hidden from the world, doing their own things and they are pretty powerful. I mean you're a good example." Maven reasoned and placed a hand on my shoulder, giving a small squeeze.

"I know that but even then...what does that say about Sigurd?" At the end of the day, fame does speak for itself and his feats made it so he was a literal legend. A human killed a Dragon King and not just any Dragon King, the strongest one there was. At his strongest state. Yes, Sigurd killed Fafnir when he was in his Outrage mode. Super fucking Devil killing Outrage Fafnir. Sure, he was probably weaker then and Gram is pretty broken against dragons but I still wanted to stop Talien from reviving the legendary hero at all cost. The relief I got from seeing the last fragment is more than I could put into words and more than I was proud of. 'So much for facing a God.' I self depreciated myself, seeing how easily scared I got at the thought of facing Sigurd.

"Does it matter?" Maven's question brought me back and made me confused. "Sigurd may have beat Fafnir but he hasn't faced us!" She puffed out her impressive chest and I gave a weird look.

"I don't thin-"

"We can do it." The mage didn't let me finish and smiled. "We'll beat Sigurd, Talien, and even Zeth. I know we can."

"...How do you know?" I asked and Maven grabbed my hand with both of hers.

"Because I believe we can...I believe in you." She gave me a warm smile and rubbed my hand with her thumb. I had no words.

"...Okay, that's just not fair." What do you know, I had five. Maven chuckled and leaned on my arm, resting her face in my neck. We sat there in silence and after a minute, we heard footsteps approaching us. We looked over and saw Brynhildr approaching us. She raised a brow at our position.

"Am I interrupting something?" I blinked at the question and looked to Maven.

"Is she?" The mage rolled her eyes but made no motion to move, choosing to sit on my lap. "I don't think so but I make no promises. Come at your own risk."

"...You really are weird." The Chief Valkyrie shook her head and leaned against the adjacent wall. "But I guess that weirdness makes sense with your naivety."

"Oh for the love of-I told you I didn't know, would you let it go!?" I pleaded but Brynhildr just snorted, unbelieving. The reason she called me naive was because of my rant earlier to put trust between our two teams after we fought together. It wasn't the asking for trust that was the problem, it was telling the Valkyries to tell Norse secrets to a group allied with Olympus. It was explained to me that long ago, in the age of the Ancient Gods, Odin was quite the warlord. Pillaging, conquering, raiding, if it had something to do with invasion then Odin most likely invented it. In short, Odin used to be an asshole and just recently turned to being a jolly pervert. And who did our Raven God meet in his reckless early years? Why another wonderful chap known for his womanizing and debauchery incarnate, Zeus. Now tell me, what do you have when you take two literal God Kings in a phase that would make all the Christian nuns in the world pray for their souls and let them meet?

Exactly what you'd think. It wasn't pretty and they tried to kill each other many times, sometimes bringing their respective pantheons into the fray. Years passed and with time, both God Kings grew in character and learned new life choices. The fighting stopped entirely centuries ago and the last time they met, which was supposedly a decade or two ago, they actually sat down and had a bland but pleasant conversation.

But that didn't mean there wasn't any more bad blood between the pantheons. Zeus and Odin reconciled their (very) stupid grudge but their fights still had lasting effects that were fading but present. Basically, Aindrea was being a dick for a reason that time in the catacombs (go figure that).

"Gunhild told me of your fight with Styrbjörn, she said you were quite a sight." Brynhildr said and I quirked a brow.

"Uh, thanks?"

"You would make a good Einherjar." She dropped that and looked forward. "If you want to be that is."

"...Was that an invitation?" I asked with a smirk and she straightforwardly nodded. "Well, I'm sorry but I don't see myself becoming one. Sorry."

"It's there whenever you want it." Brynhildr shrugged and crossed her arms. "Still with how Talien got someone like Styrbjörn then it's a wonder who else he got."

"Those Pjága in the Catacombs must have been some ancient warriors or kings from how strong they were." Maven spoke and I nodded.

"No kidding, they were pretty tough even with all of us together. Not to mention those crazy weapons...they...oh shit!" I jumped, remembering my spoils of war and quickly rubbed my space ring. Maven and Brynhildr watched in confusion as two odd looking swords appeared on the floor. The first one was the same as ever with it's diamond-like holes and bat wing guard so I picked up the other one. It was a black jagged sword with demonic wings as hand guards and three red jewels running down the middle. It was omitting a dark purplish glow. Having time to actually observe them, I remembered where I saw these blades. They were Demon Swords. Two of the six Demon Swords used by Siegfried in canon DxD.

"Tyrfing and Dáinsleif..." Brynhildr said the names of the swords and got a closer look. She traced a finger across one blade. "To think that Talien was able to-hm?" She stopped and frowned, squinting her eyes at the swords. Maven and I watched her make a magic circle over the swords before it disappeared. "There were seals over the Swords. Black magic seals."

"Seals? What were they fo-"

'Ah finally! Being trapped in a box for ages was bad enough, the constricted consciousness was not welcome!'

"..." I blinked. I blinked again. Then I stared right at Brynhildr.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" She asked with a frown

"...What the hell happened to your voice?" I asked in wonder and she furrowed her brows.

"My voice?"

"Yeah, it got real weird and had this strange echo-"

'I think her voice is quite lovely. This guy on the other hand however can cut steel with his tone deafness.'

'Hey, I'm not tone deaf! And look who's talking, sword of blunt trauma!'

'...That didn't even make any sense!' The voices started to bicker and I looked between the two women in the room.

"...Okay what are you guys doing?" I said in confusion but they looked equally confused.

"Pierce what's going?" Maven asked

"You tell me!"

'They're not doing anything though...You think we picked a crazy one?'

'...And our past users were sane?'

"That there!" I pointed at them but they were still lost. "You guys are arguing with different voices and I could hear clearly in my head. If this is some sort of prank spell then...teach it to me immediately!" Thinking of the mischief I could come up with a spell like that, Brynhildr and Maven didn't react and were as lost as ever.

'Ohhhh, I get it. Kid, we're down here.' Listening to the voice in my head (wow that sounds bad with or without context), I looked down and all I saw...were the glowing Demon Swords on the floor. I stared at them for multiple seconds but my brain refused to make sense of the scene.

'Hi! I heard your name was Pierce? Mine's Dáinsleif! Pleasure to meet ya!' The voice was clearer now and I noticed it was male in nature.

'Greetings, my name is Tyrfing and thank you for freeing me from that seal. While I would have preferred the idiot over there still being sealed, I'll take what I can get.' The other voice spoke and it was male as well but younger.

'...Really? You're going to be a dick to me even in your introduction.' The voice had no face but I could tell it was deadpanning.

'Humph.'

"..."

"..."

"...You know what, I'm over it." I ended with that and continued staring out into the beautiful Elven city, leaving a confused mage, a Chief Valkyrie, and two bickering Demon Swords to their own things.

* * *

And done. Pierce learns of Talien's plan and nips it in the bud. Now it's time to handle two Demon Swords with relationship problems. I hope you enjoyed it!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	30. Chapter 29

**_Answers to reviewers statements or questions_**

**humn(Guest):** So, you brought up a good point that I'll admit I'm guilty of doing. Compared to Pierce, Melissa, and Maven; I haven't really fleshed out the other characters all that much. I've given them background history and unique personalities (to the best of my ability) but that's about it and I'll try to work on that but the fighting I'm going to have to disagree with. I've read all the light novels (even the recent ones) and the anime, DxD is primarily action. You're asking me to tone down on the action for an action based series. Sure, 24/7 fighting would get repetitive but there are plenty of chapters without action and lore building. Ichiei puts in romance too but that's in the breaks Issei has away from big fights and that's because he's in high school. Pierce isn't in high school; he's in a war against a God whose slowly building a monster army. He can take long breaks from the war (as the Underworld arc showed) because Zeth is injured and hiding but it is a war nonetheless. Fighting every second in a chapter won't be a thing but it's primarily going to be action. If that turns you away then thanks for reading.

* * *

**Chapter 29: Mythical Problems**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but if I win the lottery one day, I'm buying it from Ichiei just to give it back so he can continue working on it. I own the OCs. I wonder how much I could sell Pierce for…

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

Reality is sometimes stranger than fiction. Truer words have never been said. If you were to look back on your life, be it good or bad, you would come to realize that many events that changed it you never saw coming. A man that chose to go into a convenience to buy a chocolate bar instead buys a lottery ticket and wins; forever changing his life never saw that coming. A man who wrote down his speech on 50 thick papers and put in his breast pocket, stopping a bullet that was shot at him from reaching his lungs didn't see that coming. An art school kicking out a young man who no talent, inadvertently sending him on a path of genocide and tyranny definitely didn't foresee that.

And when you get killed in car accident and reincarnated into an anime world just because you went out to get groceries, you pretty much become the pioneer of said saying. I've seen lots of crazy stuff and have come to live with them but…

'Seriously man, I don't know why you're so mad at me!'

'Because you are an ice idiot with no class!'

But…

'Oh please! You're just pissed off that your user was beaten so much faster than mine!'

But…

'That means nothing! The only reason Svafrlami lost was because he was just recently resurrected by that damn Elf! He wasn't at full power yet!'

'Whatever helps you sleep at night.' Dáinsleif said with a smug tone in his voice.

'Arghhh!' Tyrfing noticed.

…Yeah I got nothing (I mean, what are you supposed to say in this situation?).

"Um, Pierce?" A hesitant Adrian walked up to my crouched form and I glanced at him.

"Oh hey Adrian, give me a second. The voices in my head are still arguing." I rubbed my forehead in annoyance.

"...Okay…" The Emissary walked backwards to the others. Everyone gathered into the room when I told them I had talking Demon Swords. It took them all a second to figure out I was being serious. Vargas leaned over to Adrian.

"So…did he finally lose it?" He asked quietly and Aindrea snorted.

"Did he ever have it?"

"You know what I meant." Vargas deadpanned and the Demigod shrugged. Melissa walked up to Maven and nudged her on the arm.

"When I heard you two were alone, this was not what I was expecting." She said with a teasing tone and the mage blushed.

"W-We just talked." Maven said. "It was going alright until he started talking about voices in his head; the mood kind of died then."

"…It didn't die when I entered the room?" Brynhildr said from her seat. "You guys are freaky."

"N-No! That's not what I meant!" The mage's face got even redder and got a round of laughs from everyone.

"As entertaining as this is, aren't you guys worried for your friend? Voices in your head are pretty big red flags." A woman with short black haired asked. This was Astrid, the newest Valkyrie and the one to arrive from retrieving the third fragment. She had old looking armor like Brynhildr, a pretty face and a full figure.

"We're kind of used to Pierce's weirdness. Besides, the voices aren't that bad!" Samantha said in a jolly tone and everyone gave her odd looks. "…What?"

"I can still hear all of you." I deadpanned and they looked somewhere else. Ignoring the ones behind me, I refocused on the mess in front of me. Both Demon Swords pulsed with energy after being unsealed and Tyrfing actually stood itself up. "…So what do you guys want?" A part of me wanted to ask if it could walk out of here by itself but chose to be serious instead.

'Straight to business huh? My kind of man, there's a time and place for theatrics.' Dáinsleif pulsed in what I assumed was agreement and coughed to cleared his voice (why a sword needs to do so when they don't have a throat is beyond me). 'As I just said the names Dáinsleif and I'm the Demon Sword of King Hǫgni. The guy over there is Tyrfing and he's the Demon Sword of King Svafrlami. As thanks for freeing us from that Elf King's spell, we want to offer up our services!'

"…You want me to use you guys?"

'Precisely! What do you sa-'

"No." I shot down the offer immediately and I could feel the shock from both swords.

'B-But why!?' Dáinsleif asked in confusion.

"Are you serious?" I said rhetorically but they were honestly confused. "You guys are literal demonic weapons. Ignoring if you guys have curses on you like legends say…

'We don't! We're clean!'

…It doesn't change the fact that over using you guys will end up killing me and I like my life thank you very much." I wasn't stupid. As much as I wanted a magic sword, and I really did want one, Demon Swords are serious trouble. Even if they didn't have curses, they still drain your life-force if used recklessly and they are sentient. Siegfried arguably lost to Yuuto in canon because Gram chose to abandon him and picked Yuuto as its new wielder. Siegfried deserved it but the thought of my super cool magic sword that I've gotten used to fighting with just up and chose to help my enemy is not an experience I want to have. I may have said that I was fine with either a Holy Sword or Demon Sword but really thinking about it, I wasn't willing to risk my life using a demonic weapon. I'm not _that_ reckless (yes, I know how hypocritical that sounds at this point).

'…' I waited for a response from either Demon Sword but they said nothing so I made to stand.

"Well, if we're done here then-"

'Wait!' Dáinsleif yelled out and I stopped. 'Look I get it. We don't have the best reputation and your right if you do use us recklessly, we will absorb your life force.'

"…" I furrowed my brows when he stopped. "But?"

'…Actually I didn't think that far ahead, I was trying to stop you from leaving.' The icy Demon Sword said with clear embarrassment in his voice and I deadpanned.

'Then we won't.' Tyrfing spoke up. 'Unless you willingly give us your life force to use our powers, then we won't take any. We may be demonic swords but we do have our pride.'

'Yeah, what he said!' Dáinsleif perked up and I stared at both swords, thinking over the offer. It wasn't the worse offer I've ever been given. The risk was there but as long as I played it safe, I wouldn't have to worry about a premature death (by my swords anyway). The help they'll give as we face stronger enemies will be indispensable and they seem trust worthy but…

"Okay, I'll wield you."

'Awesome! Let's-'

"But first things first, ground rules." I stopped Dáinsleif before he could continue and crouched back down. "Rule number 1, you guys are not take my life force unless I explicitly give it, understand?"

'…Didn't I just say that?' Tyrfing deadpanned but my glare stopped him and he sighed. 'Fine, fine. I swear.'

'Same.'

"Good. Rule Number 2, you guys are to argue only outside of battle. I do not need voices distracting me while fighting for my life. You got that?"

'I'm fine with that but its blunt trauma over there you have to worry about.' Dáinsleif said with a mental shrug (that's what it felt like).

'…Fine, I won't argue with the ice dingus while you fight.' Tyrfing's strained voice didn't fill me with confidence but I let it go and got to the most important rule.

"Rule 3, you guys aren't allowed to jump ship when we're facing a greater swordsman or woman. If you guys want out then fine but give me a heads up at least." I wasn't going to stay to never betray me because I just can't control that but I would like a warning if they did want to leave. Both Demon Swords got oddly quiet at the question and Tyrfing seemed to tilt at it, like a human would tilt their head in confusion.

'That's a first.' Dáinsleif said in surprise.

'Indeed.' Tyrfing said.

"What? Will that be problem?"

'Oh no it's not that, it's just all our pass users always wanted us to swear our eternal allegiance to them or be destroyed. I guess that's our fault for always picking kings and tyrants but what can you do.' Dáinsleif explained and I rose a brow.

"I'm no slaver. You guys can leave or stay however long you want; just respect me and I'll respect you." I crossed my arms and stared down at the Demon Swords. "Do we have a deal?" A second passed as the swords turned towards each other then back to me.

'Deal.' They said simultaneously and a shit eating grin appeared on my face.

"Well alright then. It's kind of too late for this but I never did give a formal introduction." I reached down to grab their handles. "The name's Pierce. It's a pleasure to meet you." The moment my hands gripped their handles, I felt a surge of energy enter my body. A biting cold different then Jade's flowed in my right arm and another energy that I never felt before swirled in my left. It was pure force and oddly felt like static. Both Demon Swords glowed in purple and green respectively, their auras shining bright. I smiled as I felt the link forming between the two swords and me.

'Sorry Yuuto but…I'm keeping these.' I lightly waved Dáinsleif and watched as an ice wave was sent out. It sliced through the wall and kept going, leaving a trail of ice in its wake. The ice wave eventually hit a group of tall trees and froze them immediately on impact, leaving a ten meter tall glacier. 'Now that's what I'm talking about!' I was impressed by Dáinsleif capabilities and was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn't take that much out of me doing that move. My Chi reserves were barely dented.

'Whoa, whoa! What the hell is this!?' Dáinsleif exclaimed. 'How can you possibly have this much life force!? Are you really human!?'

'He is yet…incredible.' Tyrfing was equally surprised. 'I've never been wielded by a human with this much Chi…'

'Yeah, with this much you would never have to worry about tire yourself out using us! Why were you bitching so much about us taking some? You have plenty to spare!'

"…It's that kind of logic that those rules are in place." I deadpanned and by their silence, they seemed to agree. "Having second thoughts?"

'No way! Now I'm curious how far we can go!' Dáinsleif said in excitement 'Besides, we still need to get back at that Elf for trapping our consciousness. You ain't getting rid of us now!' Tyrfing pulsed in agreement.

"Welcome to the team then. I would introduce you guys to the others but since they can't hear you, I feel like it would just make them think I'm even crazier." Everyone was still watching me talk to the swords and while they were shocked to see me actually wield one of them, I could tell they were still skeptical on the whole "the sentient swords can telepathically talk to me" part.

'Oh that? Nah, they could hear us if we let them.' Dáinsleif nonchalantly dropped that fact and I blinked.

"…Seriously?"

'Yep!'

"…Then why the hell didn't you do that at the beginning!?"

'Because!…it's funny as hell to see new users explain to other's they now have talking swords.' Both Demon Swords started to laugh and I could hear stifled chuckles behind me. I turned to see the majority of the people in the room holding their mouths with amused smiles. Aindrea on the other hand didn't try to hide it and laughed his ass off.

"…They can hear you now can't they?" I deadpanned.

'Maybe?' Dáinsleif sing songy voice answered my question. I nodded in understanding before looking at Melissa.

"Hey Melissa, do you ever play fetch with your Shadow Hounds?"

"Uhhhh, sometimes?" She was confused by the sudden question.

"Great, bring them out! I got a fetching game to play with them. I call it…Retrieve the Demon Douches!"

'…Wait what?'

And so after an hour of tossing the Demon Swords and having Melissa's familiars fetch them, in the process spending some quality with my Yokai girlfriend, both sentient swords learned a valuable lesson today. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

The "what?" they gave me when I said that just made it all the better.

* * *

**Training Field**

"It's been a while since we've done this. I'm a bit excited." Vargas said as he did some practice swings with his Holy Sword and I did some light stretches on the grassy field.

"Yep, this should be interesting." I smiled while doing the cat pose and got to my feet.

"So who are you using?"

"Good question." I thought about which one to use and chose to take Tyrfing out from my space ring. Why not both? Because learning to use both Demon Swords at the same time would be like learning to write two different languages at the same time. It's as difficult as it sounds with them having two very different abilities, one elemental and the other kinetic, and the guiding of the energy is important. I didn't just swing Dáinsleif and that ice wave came out. The sword generated the energy but I needed to mentally control and expel it. I didn't know what would happen if I tried to mentally control both energies but the likeliest thing that would happen is that they would fuse. One of Maven prime lessons on magic was that unless I have a very in depth experience on the energies I'm trying to fuse or form, then leave them alone. The reason my Chi could so smoothly combine with my Strengthening Magic and Jade is because of my years of experience and at its core, Chi is neutral, making it compatible with many other energies. Fusing the powers of both Demon Swords however would be like trying to fuse Fire Mana with Wind Mana and put them into a magic circle that creates a water dragon. The circle becomes unstable, then the energies become unstable and then I go…

Point is I'm not using both demonic swords until I have a better handle on their powers (the fact Yuuto can use multiple swords from the get go shows how bullshit cast characters are).

'Wait! Not again please! I just forgot the feeling of dog drool! I swear it wasn't my idea, it was that ice idiot's pla-'

"I'm not going you as a dog stick." I said as Tyrfing tried to plead his case and he stopped.

'R-Really?'

"No."

'…Oh thank god.' Tyrfing pulsed in relief, not finding it ironic a demonic weapon would thank the (absent) man above. 'You're a demon, you know that?'

"No, I'm pretty sure that's what you are and I wasn't the one making you look like a crazy person to your friends for 20 minutes."

'Like you need any help with that…' Tyrfing whispered vengefully before getting serious. 'So what are we doing?'

"We're going to see what you're made of." I smiled and pointed the sword at Vargas. The Holy Sword user also got in position and Samantha walked forward, standing a small distance away from us.

"You guys ready?" The blond healer acted as the referee and we gave both a quick "yes". Aindrea, Melissa, and a group of Elf children were sitting on the side watching (Jade was being held by a little Elf girl that was more interested in her then the soon to be spar). The Light Elves were gracious enough to let us use their training fields to test out my new Demon Swords. While the majority of the field was hit during the attack, there was a decent portion that was intact and it suited our needs. Our arrival attracted a group of kids playing and we allowed them to watch at a safe distance (even if it does reach them, the others could easily get them out of harm's way). Vargas and I locked eyes as Samantha's arm dropped. "Begin!"

Activating Touki, I lunged at him and clashed against his Holy Sword. The magic swords immediately show their difference compared to ordinary weaponry. Sparks flew as their razor sharp edges clashed and a loud ring rang out. Vargas lost a bit of ground but collected himself a second later and started slashing. Parrying dozens of blade swings, Tyrfing became a blur as I tried to aim at leg and he hopped over it. Vargas swung at my arm and I grabbed his hand, flipping him on the ground. He landed on his back but kicked me away and got to his feet. After training with Athena in an actual sword style, my swordplay had increased quite a bit and I could actually go toe to toe in that regard with Vargas.

I was able to read every move the Holy Sword user tried to use against me and my superior physical capabilities gave me an edge. But that didn't change the fact that he can also read my movements and perfectly stopped every attempt I made at his joints. Ducking under a low swing, I pierced at his unprotected back and he smoothly twirled his sword around to block it.

'That no weight thing is stupid.' I thought as he pushed me back with no leverage and rushed at me again. The no weight makes it so he doesn't tire from that aspect but it still hits with the full force of a large claymore and Holy burn. 'Then again, he needed to readjust his fighting style to fit with the lightness and it does weigh something. One…hair…you know what, I take back the "then again".'

Vargas didn't relent in his assault and I was kept busy parrying every sword swing. We maneuvered the field at rapid speeds, both of us retreating whenever we needed the breather and the other chasing. After he dodged a slash that cut deep 2 meters into the ground (damn this thing is sharp), he kicked me in my midsection and I flew a little back. His Sword of Damocles started to shine in Holy Energy and I saw this as the time to get serious.

Holding Tyrfing with both hands, it started to glow in a dense green light and the static feeling from earlier filled my body. There was a common misconception for Demon Swords. You don't need to give up a bit of your life force every time you want to use their abilities. Swinging a Demon Sword regularly is like swinging a heavy weapon with one hand. It's more tiring then wielding a regular sword but no harms comes to your body and if you want to use their abilities, that just uses up more stamina. It's only until you've reached the point where even lifting the Demon Sword is difficult that it gives you the strength to keep going, using your life force as collateral. For a regular human, this would be a pretty raw deal since they only have a certain amount of life force to give before croaking. For a guy like me with my ridiculous Chi reserves however…

"Ha!" Giving a war cry, I slammed Tyrfing against Vargas' Holy Sword and braced myself for the impact. A huge shockwave went out, the ground around us shattering and burning from our respective attacks. Vargas was flung far back, leaving a trail in the dirt as he skidded across the ground and reached the other end of the training field. I was left standing in a massive crater; Tyrfing and the Touki around my arms were slightly smoking from his attack. "Shit!" It took me a second to react and I Chi Burst next to the downed Vargas. "Damn man, I didn't mean to draw out that much power. Are you okay?" I said while grabbing his shoulder and sat him up, Vargas blinking away his stunned state.

"…How the hell did I forget it could do that?" Vargas said while rubbing the back of his head. "You'd think the time in the catacomb would help me remember."

"I guess it's hard to remember when something new is trying to kill you every day." I smiled and he chuckled.

"No kidding." He grabbed my arm and we stood up. "But that is one fine weapon. You got one serious power up, I'm kind of jealous you got two to use."

"Yeah…" I lifted Tyrfing and rang a finger along its back. I was incredibly pleased with my new swords. The increase in power was no joke; if I had either one of them in my battle against Styrbjörn then the fight would have ended much faster. Especially Tyrfing. While Dáinsleif's ice abilities would have been welcome, one hit from Tyrfing would have dealt massive damage against the undead human's defenses. I was really curious what would happen if I used Sword Fury with Tyrfing.

"…You guys do realize we're trying to clean up everything, right?" A Light Elf soldier standing to the side said with an annoyed tone. We looked at the mess our attacks caused and blushed in embarrassment, apologizing. The Elf rolled his eyes but said it was alright, just not to go too crazy and went back to work.

"If you ladies are done, I think it's my turn." Aindrea stood up and took out his spear, walking out into the field. "Let's try out that other Demon Sword. I want face it again." The Demigod got into a ready pose, eager to fight.

"…You're not actually mad at the sword for nearly freezing you in the tomb are you?" I said with a quirked brow and Aindrea stuttered.

"O-Of course not! I just want to join in the sparring! And it didn't come close to freezing me!" Aindrea tried to play off his grudge but no one believed it. "Just take out the damn sword already!"

I smiled in amusement and put away Tyrfing, taking out Dáinsleif. Ignoring his whining on "ungrateful new users", Aindrea and I charged at each other.

* * *

**Hall of the Elder Trees**

The re construction of the Light Elves grand hall was currently underway. Many Elves were walking around, picking up destroyed statues and mural pieces. Brynhildr was helping the reconstruction with her Valkyries while Adrian and Maven came along to help. The mage was using her restoration spells to fix the destroyed walls and ceilings while Adrian was helping the Elves plant new trees. His sunlight based powers was an immense help for growing new trees and the Elves were making full use of that. The Emissary was dragged to every corner of the hall, the Elves' nature magic drawing on his sunlight aura to grow faster (magical trees demanded a bit more to grow then regular ones). As she finished restoring a large window, Maven looked out of it and saw the training field where everyone was. They must have finished trying out Pierce's new Demon Swords because they were currently fooling around. Samantha was currently walking around with Vargas and Aindrea was resting under a tree (looking glum for some reason). Pierce and Melissa were playing around with a group of Elf children. Maven smiled when she saw how Pierce made a bunch of Chi animals for the kids to play with and made them get on top, gathering them for a race.

The mage chuckled when he created the massive bear from the catacombs and strutted around, looking childishly proud of the kid's admiration. Maven stayed there for a couple of minutes, watching Melissa telling some of the kids a story (she guessed from the Yokai's hand gestures) and Pierce be beaten by the kids with the smaller Chi animals in the race. Though considering he could control every single one of them, it was obvious he did that on purpose. 'He's good with kids.' Maven thought with a warm smile before getting back to work. After restoring the majority of the main hall, she walked to the center chamber and saw Adrian next to a massive oak tree. "Was that the stump?" The mage asked, looking at the large creation of nature.

"Yeah, some of its life-force was still present so it just needed some nourishment." The Emissary said and waved his sword, the sunlight aura emitting from it being sucked into the tree. If this was a regular tree, then bringing Pierce or Melissa to give it some Chi would have been enough. Problem was that this tree was a fragment of the Norse World Tree, Yggdrasil. Neither Chi user had the reserves or control to restore it, not to mention Pierce's lack of Senjutsu. It took a special kind of nourishment to heal it, like Adrian's God originated sunlight powers. The Elves were lucky he was here or the tree would have taken a very long time to heal by itself.

"…Hey Adrian."

"What is it?" The Emissary asked, sheathing his sword and turning to the mage.

"Is this really okay?" She asked, worry in her voice. "I mean, just relaxing here while the others are out there fighting Ferox?" Maven felt a bit guilty for their relaxation while the Homer team was supposedly hot on the Werewolf King's tracks.

"Hmmm, I can see how that does seem worrying but it's not like that." Adrian explained. "Odysseus said himself that unless they urgently needed our help then we should focus on Talien. Brynhildr's last Valkyrie is still waiting at the grave site for any sighting of Talien. We just need to wait until then." The last Fragment was placed in the tombstone of Sigurd's mother, Hiordis. The moment Talien arrived to take the last Fragment, the Valkyrie would alert them and they would teleport over there. If Talien never arrives then they would just go help the Homer team kill Ferox. "Don't worry Maven; we're not wasting time by being here." Adrian gave a comforting smile and Maven nodded.

"Alright, as long as you say so."

"Good. Now, go hang out with the others. I'll go see how the situation is looking with Brynhildr."

Maven nodded at his suggestion and went to the training field. Adrian made his way into the inner chamber, passing by multiple Elves who thanked him for his help and reached the Chief Valkyrie. She was sitting in one of the meeting rooms of the hall and was talking into her communication ring. Brynhildr noticed Adrian entering the room and motioned him over.

"Say again Sigrid." Brynhildr said while Adrian sat across from her.

"I said that I haven't seen anything for the past couple hours. If Talien wanted the third fragment, he would have arrived at this point. This is getting boring." A woman's voice came through the ring and Brynhildr's brows furrowed.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing. No Dark Elf minions, no undead, not even regular people paying visits. I'm more in danger of getting a sun burn then any Elf King attacking." Sigrid groaned and Brynhildr got quiet at her words.

'Where is he? He didn't waste time going from the tomb to this city, so what's taking him so long?' Brynhildr wasn't the impatient type; she couldn't be as the Chief Valkyrie. She's been on plenty of campaigns where they needed to wait for a target or stake out a fortress. But Talien's actions made no sense to her. The Dark Elf King's goals were as clear as day; get all three fragments, gain entry into Sigurd's tomb, and then turn the dead legend into a Pjága. It wasn't hard to figure out but why was he taking this long when he knows they were hot on his trail? What gives? 'I just don't get it!' Brynhildr was starting to get frustrated before she felt hand on her shoulder.

"Getting mad about his absence won't do anything about it." Adrian said and Brynhildr stared at him before sighing. The Chief Valkyrie's leaned back and some of the tension in her body went away. "Good, now what do we know?" Adrian asked rhetorically but Brynhildr saw the purpose.

"Talien has two pieces of the Andvaranaut but can't complete it because we have the last one. He's already lost 3 Pjágas and a large portion of his undead legion, not to mention those green monsters. He's considerably weakened." Brynhildr fell into thought and looked at Adrian. "Do you think he retreated back to Zeth?"

"Possibly, with how often he escapes from battle, I wouldn't be surprised if he cut his losses and left." Adrian reasoned but the Chief Valkyrie still looked unconvinced. "You don't think he did?" She shook her head.

"Talien many things but he doesn't seem like a coward." The Elf couldn't be when he's trying to take down a pantheon while making the enemy of another. "He's dead set on getting Sigurd, he wouldn't back off when he's this close to his goal."

"…Maybe he knows." Adrian said

"Hm?"

"Maybe he knows that you took the last fragment. He must know he's not the only one with knowledge of the pieces location and made a plan for when it was taken." Brynhildr's eyes narrowed at Adrian's assumption.

"Do you think he'll try to attack us for the last fragment?"

"Possibly. He could also capture your Valkyrie and try to trade her for the third fragment. Whatever it is, we have to assume that he's got a contingency plan for when he can't get the last piece." Adrian explained with a calm face and Brynhildr nodded.

"That makes sense, I'll tell Sigrid to be extra cautious there." Brynhildr rubbed her communication ring and did just that, getting a quick "got it" from the Valkyrie. "I guess we just have to wait now." She said to the Emissary but anyone call tell she didn't want to do that.

"It's the best we can do." Adrian stood up and made for the door. "Remember Brynhildr, patience is a virtue." He left with that and Brynhildr fell into deep thought.

'But time is also of the essence.' The Chief Valkyrie thought cynically. She stared out the window up on the wall, closing her eyes because the sun shined on her face and enjoyed its warmth. Brynhildr didn't know why Talien's inaction bugged her so much. Part of her wanted to blame it on her own impatience when it came to things like this but there was something else. A feeling in her gut. She's been on many missions where she trusted her gut over evidence showed and they mostly worked out (it was actually the reason her previous Chief Valkyrie nominated her for the position). Talien wasn't done here. He hasn't given up and is trying something but what? And where?

'I'm missing something.' And for the life of her, she couldn't remember what. She just hoped she'd figure it out before it's too late.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

"…So wait, that killing curse thing was a lie?" I asked Tyrfing as I rode around on my Chi Tyrant. A portion of the Elf kids riding around me on their own Chi animals (wolves, deer, cheetahs) and another portion playing with playground equipment created from Maven's earth magic. 'I'm glad I kept those magic quills.' I smiled at the kids' joy as they played on the swings, see saws, and slides.

'Yeah, that was just rumors passed around by his court to place blame on me. Lot's of people believed it because he was a decent king before acquiring me but the truth was that he got drunk on my power and went around doing whatever he wanted.' The power sword spoke from its position on my lap.

"Well I guess that's one history question answered." I said and looked to Dáinsleif on my other lap. "What about your original user?"

'Um, there's not that much to tell actually. He was a good king, a little head strong but kind and didn't really use me all that much until he needed to save his daughter from a neighboring prince. Among the many users I've had, he was one of the better ones!' Dáinsleif said with nostalgia in his voice.

"…Huh."

'What?' Tyrfing asked.

"It's nothing; I'm just surprised how different history actually is from myth. I know it's impossible to get a perfect picture but that sure is an eye opener."

'It's just how things are kid.' Dáinsleif spoke. 'People like stories and people remember infamy better then anonymity. It depends on who you ask but more likely than not, old heroes become demonized to make them more flawed or memorable. It's a common trend I've seen over the years, Hǫgni was no exception…though I never understood why most the old stories have him turned into an undead by the end of them. I mean, it's a crazy coincidence considering what's recently happened but he's never even met a black magic user when he was alive. It makes no sense!'

I chuckled at the Demon Sword's whine and looked up to the sky, calmly watching the clouds go by. Is that how I'll be remembered? I have no illusions to be known through the ages as an undying legend but it does raise questions. If or when I ever get thousands of years on my lifespan, how will the world remember me? I can't settle down somewhere like a regular person since I'll age hundreds of times slower than everyone else so I'll need to find a way to move around but how will that work? Devils and Fallen Angels do it all the time because they have to be close to humans (for multiple reasons) so there is a way. Honestly, I don't really care if people remember me or not, the issue is…

'What about mom and dad...' A sad smile came on to my face when I thought about them. I missed them. A day didn't go by where I didn't think to go back and see how they were doing. More than once did I ask Maven for the Mirror of Isis to check on my mom and she lent it to me with a knowing smile. Every time I checked she was doing something different; sewing, cleaning, or taking a stroll through town. Many times she would be with Mason and they would be spending time together, just being them. I would laugh when my dad would purposely mess with her and she'd get angry, forcing Mason to playfully calm her down and they'd make up like a regular couple would (it's when it reaches that point that I cut the image before being permanently scarred). Seeing them safe and sound never fails to bring me some peace of mind but if the day ever came that I gain some sort of longevity, be it from the Evil Pieces or some other magic spell, then…then I would outlive them. I would have to watch as they grew older and eventually bury them, then live for the next 10,000 years.

And the thought that I may one day forget about them scared me more then facing any dragon slaying legend.

'Why did Issei never have to think on this crap?' I thought with a wry smile and laid back on my Chi Tyrant's back, the fur created from life-force oddly soft. Ichiei probably never wanted DxD to be psychological and didn't make Issei think on the fact that he'll live so long that he may very one day forget about his parents and human friends. Granted, Issei's perverted nature gives him a one track mind and it is an ecchi comedy, it's still a factor to think about. I didn't want to forget about them. I could ask for some Evil Pieces from Sirzechs and offer to turn them into Devils but they didn't seem the type that wants to live for thousands of years. 'Actually…that raises another question…what happens if I can't-'

"What are you thinking about?" Melissa's question brought me out of my thoughts. She kneeled next to me, the Chi Tyrant's wide back leaving plenty of room and her face hovered over mine. I stared at beautiful face and brought a hand to her cheek, my thumb rubbing it slowly. She seemed confused by the gesture but didn't pull away and leaned into my touch. I smiled when I scratched behind her ear and got a small purr in response.

"So your human ears are as sensitive as your leopard ones? Good to know." She blushed at my teasing tone.

"…You didn't answer the question." The Shadow Yokai grabbed my hand and held it. "What's the matter?"

"Why do you think something's wrong?"

"I am a Chi user too Pierce." Melissa deadpanned.

"…And boy do you make it look sexy!" I shot back but she just gave me a bland look.

"Thanks, now what's up?" She didn't let me change the subject and I internally cursed. It really sucked when your significant other seems to always know when something is bothering you…which is made even worse when she has powers that can read your emotions (It may cheapen a relationship but it's nice she cares). I locked eyes with Melissa before sighing in fondness.

"It's nothing."

"Pier-"

"No really, I'm not trying to be difficult. It's nothing major and most likely has an easy answer I'm not getting yet. I'm good." I smiled at her skeptical look.

"…You know it's pretty hypocritical to force me to talk about my feelings while keeping yours."

"I know. Being a hypocrite is great!" I said with a happy tone and she rolled her eyes, sitting down next to me. All things considered, I had plenty of time before having to deal with outliving the people I care about (who are human anyway) and a new problem entered my mind. Melissa. She's a Yokai. A supernatural being who already as a life span in the thousands and I'm still human. In the very unlikely chance I can't get modified Evil Pieces, my life span won't change and I'll die long before her. As much as Sirzechs and Ajuka were the good guys in DxD, I refused to become a servant to either of them. Not because I hated them but because my entire goal for my life was to be completely free and do whatever I want.

That and if I refused to be under a literal Goddess of Beauty like Aphrodite then like hell was I serving under a guy. My nonexistent manly pride won't allow it! Jokes aside, if I can't convince or do a favor for Ajuka to make an Evil Piece that makes me a servant to no one, then I would need to find another way to gain longevity.

And with how many powerful humans in the past never gained longer life spans (to my knowledge), I'm not liking my odds. I stared at Melissa as we strolled around the field and she waved at the kids playing, wondering if she ever thought about the fact that I'll live far shorter then she will.

"…You sure do have a way with kids." Choosing not to worry about it for now, I said when I saw how the Elf children called out "Sister Melissa!" or "Melissa-nee." 'She probably told them to call her that last one.'

"Yeah, I'm used to play all the time with my little brothers and sister." Melissa said with a wide smile.

"You have siblings? What are their names?"

"Well, I have two brothers and one sister. Akira and Aito while my little sister's name is Himari." She started to list off her siblings and I rose a brow.

"Those all sound like Japanese names. Is there a reason your parents named you Melissa?"

"My mom chose it for me and she heard from a distance traveler. I think she like how it sounded." Melissa said with a shrug

"Huh, well I would like to meet them all one day." I told Melissa long ago about my parents and she was even there one day when I observed my mom through the magic mirror. "They must miss you a lot since leaving, considering you left to do something pretty dangerous. I know I'd worried."

"…Y-Yeah. I guess they would be." Melissa got oddly uncomfortable at the statement and I tilted my head at her.

"Why wouldn't they? Any parent would be worried for their child if put in your position."

"…" She didn't say anything to that and I narrowed my eyes.

"…Melissa." She looked at me and I crossed my arms. "You told your family that you're on this quest, right?" Melissa didn't answer. "Melissa?"

"…"

"…"

"…No?" Her voice was barely above a whisper but I heard it clearly and my eyes widened.

"_No?_"

"No." It wasn't a whisper that time.

"…What the hell!? You didn't tell them you're on a mission to kill a God!?" I slightly raised my voice and she furrowed her brows.

"No, I didn't and I regret it but how is it different then what you're doing?"

"It's completely different!"

"How!?"

"…Okay, it's not that different but I couldn't just go back and explain to them what I accepted."

"Yes you could have!"

"…Alright, I could have but I make poor life choice all the time! You're better than this!" I saw myself losing this argument and tried to salvage it but the Shadow Yokai just huffed and turned away.

"I didn't tell you the truth so that you judge me for it…" I stopped at her statement, staring at her back before sighing.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have raise my voice." I grabbed Melissa's shoulder and gently faced her back to me. "It's your choice and I honestly have no place to judge it but imagine how your parents would feel if they knew you were doing something this dangerous without telling them. Remember how you felt when i came back from the Underworld and did all those crazy things?"

"...Yeah?"

"Well to the people that raised and loved you your whole life, it's probably going to be a whole lot worse."

"...Yeah." Melissa said with a resigned sigh and I cupped her chin, lifting her face so she can look at me.

"Look, how about this? When we have time we'll take a trip to both our homes, meet each other's folks, and explain the shit show we found ourselves in. Misery likes comedy, like they say." I said with a small smile and she stared at me for a second before smiling.

"I think it's misery loves company." The Shadow Yokai corrected with a cheeky smirk and I snorted.

"After you see my mom's reaction, it'll quickly turn into a comedy." That got a laugh out of the Yokai.

After setting up a plan to clear the mess with our respective parents, Maven joined us on the Chi Tyrant's back and we exited the training field (the Chi Animals the kids were playing with should last half an hour before dispersing, something I told the nearby soldiers). I took a trip around the beautiful elf city with the two women, enjoying the sights and supernatural people. While some debris was still lying around, the roads were mostly cleared out and that allowed for a smooth ride. We passed by many colorful trees and glowing stones that gave the roads an ethereal look, it was explained by Maven that in the nighttime they lit up to allow for better visibility. Wooden houses seemed to be the most common construction, fitting with the Elf vibes and former towers that worked as sentry's before the attack. I showed them the place where I faced the Lesser Fire Giant, the scorch marks and indents still around. I asked Gunhild earlier what she did with the Giant and she apparently sent it back to Muspelheim.

"What are you looking for?" Maven asked when she saw me looking around.

"Gunhild said it remained after she summoned the giant back but...ah!" I saw the item I was looking for and it was placed off to the side with a bunch of charred rubble. It was the massive red sword of the Fire Giant. I hopped off the Chi Tyrant and walked over to the sword, touching the hard rock like texture.

"Um, not to undermine your strength but I don't think that's a really conventional weapon." Maven commented with an amused smile, Melissa mirroring it.

"I know, I just wanted to keep it as a trophy." Channeling Chi into my arms, I heaved the massive blade far larger then myself over my head and pointed it to the sky. "But hey, who knows! I may learn to wield it one day. No badass can call himself one without wielding an unreasonably and unnecessarily large weapon. It's Cliche Law!"

"...What?"

I stored away the sword in my space ring, next to my other things I've collected in my travels (the Sultan's Crown, Shinto Priest Robes, The Property Deed to the Belial land, etc.). Ignoring Dáinsleif's exclaim of 'damn that's one big sword, I think I'm in love!', I resumed touring the city and we eventually came to a large open field. The field seemed to be newly made because the fences were made from Nature Magic and freshly cut stone monument rested in the center. We were curious about the location and requested entry by the guarding soldiers. They allowed us in but made me disperse the Chi Tyrant and we normally walked in. It was a pretty normal field with a perfectly flat ground and hundreds of small tree saplings lying around. I noticed many Elf residents standing or kneeling by a sapling, all of them somber. Many were crying with small offerings being placed next to the saplings. I quickly realized what this place was.

"A graveyard..." I said quietly and they nodded, guessing the same thing. We kept walking and came to the stone monument. It was on a platform and countless names were written on the stone, an Elf women was kneeling in front of the stone. 'Oh, it's the Elf sorceress from before.' She introduced herself as Haleth when we meet outside the inner chamber and I was surprised to see her here. We walked up to her but she gave us a small glance and a nod before staring back at the stone. I scanned the monument and found a small slab on the bottom, words written on it. While I understood certain symbols because of my own Norse based Strengthening Magic, the rest of the text was lost on me. "Hey Maven, can you read-"

"Einn makligr jartegn af sannligr borgarmaðrs." Haleth spoke out, her voice quiet and hollow. "A fitting honor for proper soldiers...ridiculous." The Elf grimaced and held a pendant to her chest, squeezing it tightly. It was a monument for all the Elf soldiers that fought in the invasion, all their names engraved on the stone. Her daughter was sadly one of the names currently on the stone.

'Damn.' I gave a pitying look to the women and stepped forward, putting both of my hands together in a prayer. It may not be much and I'm not religious but anyone that died to protect their home deserved recognition. So I closed my eyes and stood silent for a minute, giving my respect. After doing so, I opened my eyes to see Haleth staring at me in wonder.

"...Thank you." I took the thanks without saying anything. We left her to mourn in peace, exiting the graveyard and Melissa sighed.

"We should have arrived sooner."

"We came as fast as we could Melissa, how could we have known Talien was attacking these people?" Maven reasoned but the Shadow Yokai still felt bad for the Elves and I agreed. These people had no prior connection to the war between Zeth and Olympus but they were dragged in nonetheless. It's time like this makes me glad I joined Olympus' side. They may have had a pretty bad past but they at least worry about the potential collateral that will occur against the Generals. The Monster God couldn't care any which way.

"At least her daughter died in battle. She should be in Asgard enjoying herself, that's something right?" I said, trying to find a silver lining in the whole tragedy but that got the opposite effect I was looking from. They both furrowed their brows with Maven turning to me.

"She's not in Asgard. That's impossible."

"Impossible? What do you mean? Do they worship some sort of Elven Gods and go to Elf Heaven?" I never heard of them in the story but with how many pantheons were around, Elf Gods don't seem too crazy. Melissa and Maven looked at each other before looking back at me.

"Pierce...Elves don't go to Heaven or Hell. No supernatural being does, only humans do." My eyes widened when Melissa finished and I stuttered.

"W-Why!? Do the God's set it that way!?"

"That's how it's away been, we thought you knew that."

"...Why would I know that?" I deadpanned and they blinked.

"...Good point." Maven sighed and started to explain the circumstances regarding Supernatural and the Afterlife. She actually started with a question. If Humans go to the Hell and Devils are already in the Underworld, where do you think they go when they die? I was floored by the good question. All supernatural beings, be they Devils, Angels, Yokai's, Gods, Vampires, etc. don't get sent to either Heaven or Hell when they die. Unless their souls are stored and they have enough life force to keep the souls existing, it will naturally disperse. Every supernatural being had this same aspect, it's the main reason God's use humans for worship and accept them into their Pantheon's Heaven. By the time her explanation was over, everything clicked.

That's why the Four Original Satans were never reborn because God probably made sure their souls couldn't be retrieved. It's why the Biblical God wasn't resurrected with the Holy Grail by Michael or the other Archangels because he used up all his life force in Trihexa's sealing. It's why Hades was so afraid of the Longinus' users because they could potentially kill him and even as a God of Death, he can't come back. It's why Rizevim resurrected the Evil Dragons that were sealed away because they were his only option. It all made sense.

'...I may need to rethink that Evil Pieces plan.' Granted, 10,000 years of life sounded great, the fading out of existence completely seemed equally bad. '...Oh well.' Seeing it as another problem I couldn't deal with at the moment, I put it on the back burner and continued exploring. I asked Melissa how she felt about that but she didn't really care, having grown up knowing such things. Seems like something you shouldn't tell a kid but I guess Yokai culture was more hard lined then normal people. The sun soon went down and the roads lit up like Maven said, making the walk back quite pleasant. Everyone was gathered at the house, Adrian explaining how they would stay for one more day and see if Talien ever moves to gain the last fragment. Melissa headed to our room to sleep and I was about to follow but stopped. I sensed Brynhildr sitting on the porch, she was alone and her aura was fluctuating.

'What is she doing?' I moved to the Chief Valkyrie's location and saw her holding the last fragment of the Andvaranaut, a magic circle over it. The ring fragment was pulsing too and runic marks flickered on it's surface, fading periodically. "What are you doing?" I asked and Brynhildr's gaze never left the fragment, her eyes narrowing as it flickered again.

"Trying to figure out how to do this." I could hear the frustration in her voice and took a step forward.

"Do what? Get it to find gold? If so...count me in."

"..." Brynhildr didn't react and cast another magic spell over the fragment, causing the marks to light up again. It flickered a few times but nothing happened and Brynhildr frowned. "God damn it." She cursed under her breath.

"...Wouldn't it be "All Father damn it" for you guys?" I asked, genuinely curious and she gave me bored look.

"Does that sound right to you?"

"Well your Norse, you tell me." She continued to give me an unimpressed face. "Okay, you're obviously not in the mood for my comedic genius-" She snorted that time. "You want to tell me what you're trying to do? Maybe I could help." I offered and she looked me up and down before tossing me the fragment. I caught it and observed it, my Spiritual Energy sensing the well hidden but incredibly complicated magic runes within (it looked unfinished which fit).

"I'm was trying to activate the runes, hoping it would try to reach out to it's other pieces."

"Which would led us right to Talien, that's smart." I frowned. "But wait, wouldn't the Original Brynhildr think about that and find a way to block it?"

"...She did." Brynhildr said quietly and I got the picture.

"You knew she did but tried it anyway."

"A girl can dream can't she?"

"Hm." I made a sound of agreement and played with the fragment. It was kind of funny. This little, broken piece of an accessory is all that's stopping a Dark Elf King from gaining a Zombie that can body Dragon Kings. The fact that its original function was to find gold shows that anything can happen in this crazy world. I wonder how Andvari feels about thi-

"...Wait." I looked to Brynhildr. "Whatever happened to Andvari?" The Chief Valkyrie tilted her head at the question.

"Loki killed him." I did a double take at that. "Don't be so surprised, Loki is an Evil God and the Dwarf did try to curse him with the ring." I had no come back to that. While Odin wanted to blame Loki for the murder, he also hated Andvari because he was the one who created the curse and the Dwarf's reputation was poor at best when alive. Brynhildr explained how Andvari's son, Gunnar, took up his father's smith shop but chose to stay away from artifacts involving treasures and is in Andvari's cave till this day. It took me a couple of seconds to process that and another question entered my mind.

"Um, Brynhildr? How good of a smith is Gunnar?"

"About as good as Andvari was." She said with a shrug and I stared at her wide eyed, waiting for her to get the same idea I'm having but she just snorted. "No Pierce, you don't have to worry about Gunnar."

"But if he's as good as his father then-"

"Brynhildr was a 5th Order Magician." Brynhildr said with a pointed look. "And not just in a couple of branches, she knew 5th Order spells from Sealing magic, Protection magic, Rune Symbols, Security Magic; if the Norse had it, she learned it. She was a master; a little Dwarf can't hope to figure out her spell."

'That's...complete nonsense.' I thought in bewilderment. It wasn't the fact that the Original Brynhildr learned every branch of magic to 5th Order that I found ridiculous, it was the fact that Brynhildr didn't consider Gunnar a potential problem or factor. Just because Brynhildr was a master of everything didn't mean other's below her couldn't be a threat. The Biblical God was even higher then her in the Magic department and sealed a world ending Dragon at the end of said world; a place no one can supposedly go. But that didn't stop Rivezim from gaining the Holy Grail and finding the Imperial Beast. And the Super Devil was nowhere near the Biblical God's level (in terms of magic). "Did you check on him at least?"

"...No."

"Did Brynhildr break the ring when she got to Asgard?"

"...N-No, she already had it in fragments when she arrived." The Chief Valkyrie started to squirm.

"...Brynhildr, I don't know you all that well but this hero worship and arrogance crap doesn't fit your character."

"Wha-"

"Check on the damn Dwarf for the love of God!" I snapped.

"Alright, alright I'll check!" Brynhildr yelled and stood up in a huff, waving her hand. A magic circle appeared on the ground and a single crow popped out. It flew around us before landing on Brynhildr's arm. Before I could ask why she summoned a crow, it chose to answer for itself.

"Hello Lady Brynhildr, how may I be of service today?" The crow spoke in a deep voice. I blinked.

"Why did you call a talking crow?" I asked with a weird face.

"He's a raven." She corrected while stroking the flying magic creature's head. "This is Hakon, a descendant of Hugin and Munin."

"You mean the two raven's that are on Odin's shoulders?"

"The very same. Hakon, can you please check the cave of Andvari?"

"At once my Lady." Hakon bowed his tiny head and his eye's lit up in a green light, shining in the night.

"What's he doing?"

"Hugin and Munin's descendants fly all over Midgard for Odin, getting all kinds of information for him. They have an innate ability that allows them to share the vision and thoughts between one another." Brynhildr explained and I blinked.

"...Can they also summon beasts, absorb life energy, and rip out a person's soul?"

"...What?" Brynhildr asked in confusion but I waved my hand.

"Nevermind. I got to say, as far as familiars go, that's one of the more unique one's I've heard about."

"Really? Then you've never had the unfortunate pleasure to meet Ratatoskr. Little shit took my teams 3 days to catch on a mission." I rose a brow at that.

"Whose Ratatoskr?" He sounded impressive if it took a group of Half Gods 3 days to finally catch him.

"He's a squirrel." I blinked.

"…A squirrel?"

"Well, a magical squirrel that rides the branches of Yggdrasil to other worlds and annoys the head Mimir whenever he's alone."

"…"

"…"

"…Your mythology is weird." Brynhildr snorted at the statement.

"Oh my." Hakon said in surprise, his raven eyes still glowing.

"What is it?" Brynhildr asked.

"I-I think it'd be easier if I showed you my Lady." The raven sent a beam of light at Brynhildr's forehead, choosing to send one to me as well. Before I could react, my vision warped and everything was in a foggy green, like I was looking through glass. It eventually cleared up and I could make out a large castle that was on the side of a mountain. It looked abandoned and the raven's vision I was sharing did a lap around the castle to locate anyone.

Then an arrow came flying at it and the vision tilted, the raven narrowly dodging the projectile. As it turned around to retreat, the raven looked back and spotted a lone Draugr with a bow and the Pjaga Maven was fighting earlier standing next to it. Then a flash of light engulfed the vision and I came back to. The silence was deafening.

"...I don't want to say I told you so but..." I started, slowly turning to Brynhildr.

The Chief Valkyrie was already long gone.

* * *

And done. Pierce got some new friends and an appreciation for humility; time to put both of those to the test. I hope you enjoyed.


	31. Chapter 30

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

* * *

**Chapter 30: There's always a Greater Monster**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and that hasn't changed, so I don't know what you expected when you read this. I own the OCs and that will never change!...Probably

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner speech – "_Neat_"

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Secret Elf City**

I moved the moment Brynhildr left. I entered the house and alerted everyone to the situation. They quickly got their bearings and we all rushed to the Valkyrie's house, seeing the Valkyries already ready to move. Brynhildr nodded to us when we arrived.

"What's the plan?" Adrian asked

"I commanded Sigrid to teleport ahead of time to Andvari's cave. She'll try to learn whatever she can from a distance before we arrive. Is everyone ready?" She got a round of nods and waved her hand, a large magic circle appearing under the group. Like usual, a bright light flooded my vision and when it faded, we were at our location. We were among a group of tall oak trees, a wide patch of grass and a river lying west of us. I looked up to see the abandoned castle from the raven familiar's vision and a waterfall calmly flowing next to it. It was a pretty and calm looking place…if you ignored the undead Norse witch flying high in the air. Thorbjǫrg was waving her staff, my enhanced hearing picking up demonic chanting and the night sky started to get cloudy. Lightning bolts the size of houses started to streak across the sky and thunder roared so loud that the ground shook (I had to stop channeling Chi into my ears before they became damaged).

"They're not wasting time." I idly said. Sigrid appeared in front of us a second later, walking from within the woods.

"Report." Brynhildr said with a stern face.

"Talien has called a large majority of the Draugrs patrolling inside. Thorbjǫrg rose into the sky a minute before you guys arrived. He definitely knows we're here."

"So that rules out stealth." Adrian said, crossing his arms. "If he sent out one of his Pjágas, then he's not planning on leaving. We need to charge inside."

"You up for a rematch?" I looked over to Maven after the Emissary finished. The mage smirked and we both walked forward but Brynhildr stopped us.

"Wait, take Sigrid and Astrid to deal with Thorbjǫrg. They're both well versed in Seiðr arts, they'll be better help than him."

"…That's actually a really good point but damn, words hurt you know?" Brynhildr rolled her eyes at my comment while everyone chuckled. Both mentioned Valkyries walked forward and I gave Maven a small squeeze on her hand, telling her to be careful. The mage gave me a squeeze back and floated in the air, flying towards the undead Seiðr. I had to hold back a wince when Thorbjǫrg sent one of the house sized lightning bolts at them and they blocked it.

"Let's go." Brynhildr started to lead the wave, choosing to go on foot up to the castle. Thorbjǫrg fired some lightning bolts at us but they were pitiful at best with the Pjága having her hands full with the other three. Holding up a Touki covered arm to block the occasional bolt of lightning, the elemental attacks did nothing and we eventually reached the castle gate. The structure on the mountain couldn't be called castle, more like the front half of one. It dug into the rock and when Brynhildr destroyed the gate with a fire spell, a long hallway into the mountain appeared. "We're going to pick up the pace, keep an eye out."

The Chief Valkyrie gave a heads up and we followed her inside.

* * *

**Andvari's Cave, Control Room**

Deep within the legendary Dwarf's domain, there was a large room with smith equipment and magic arrays littering every corner. Many weapons of different sizes were strung up on the walls. Magical axes, swords, spears, arrows, and even siege weaponry that would make a mortal warlord green with envy. The room was mostly untouched save for the anvil in the middle still smoking from recent work and the throne currently being used. An elf woman was sitting on the throne, looking through multiple floating screens in front of her. If anyone from the team was here, they would recognize her as one of the light Elves that fought alongside Talien. She gave a bloodthirsty smile when she saw the group enter the cave.

"They don't know when to give up, do they? Oh well, more entertainment for me. Not that you haven't been wonderful company but I just don't feel the connection. You understand." The Light Elf tilted her head to the left and flashed her smile to the tied up being in the corner. A short man with blond hair, a beard, and smith robes was sitting on the ground. His clothes were bloodied and he glared at the elf in silence. That only got a chuckle out of the Elf. "This would be much more interesting if you actually said something."

"Go to Helhiem Níðingr." The man said full of spite.

"Hmm, that's better but not very original." The Elf said and waved her hand. Magic circles appeared around her and she rubbed her chin in thought. "What to choose, what to choose. How about…this one."

She pressed on a magic circle and it shone, a sudden change happening in one of the screens. The walls around the group started to randomly shift, blocking their path and dividing the group into two. One of the members quickly reacted and a white aura encased their body, raising his fist to smash the wall. Unfortunately before he could do so, the ground gave out from under them and they started to fall down. The blond haired healer was able to create a barrier to stop their descent but the roof over them fell, forcing the Chi using human to hold it up. The second group tried to break through the wall to help but the Light Elf pressed another magic circle and holes started to appear on the walls surrounding them. Puppets, ranging from humanoid to demonic started to crawl out, lunging at the team. The ones trapped under the falling roof were also having this problem.

"This is fun!" The Elf woman was amused by the situation. She started to observe the other magic circles. "I wonder what this one do-"

"We had a deal. Where are my apprentices?!" The man in the corner chose to make himself known again, demanding an answer from the Light Elf. She gave him a small glance before looking back at the circles.

"Once Talien has what he's come for, you'll get them."

"…" The man stared a bit before staring at the ground. She almost pitied the Dwarf; he didn't really have a choice in the matter for helping the Dark Elf King. With the capture of his disciples, Gunnar could only do what Talien wanted or he would face the consequences. Granted, he had his greedy father to blame for his current predicament, he was naïve to believe Talien would just hand back his apprentices. Talien was definitely going to keep the Dwarf around for his smith skills.

'That said, I wonder how Kari's holding up.' While she hated her ass kissing sister, she wouldn't want to be babysitting a bunch of snot nosed Dwarves. She couldn't see her because Kari was holding the apprentices in a section of the cave where no surveillance was being kept. Talien made it that way so Gunnar couldn't somehow gain control of the array and help his apprentices. While that seemed like a bad idea, it didn't matter much to Talien as long as he got what he came for. A good Dwarf Smith was inconsequential compared to the true prize.

Peeking over to a platform in the middle of the room, she resumed handling the cave's defensives. A fully intact Andvaranaut with Nordic symbols was resting on the platform, a portal to the Tomb of Sigurd calmly hovering over it.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

'This is starting to get heavy.' I frowned as I pushed up the ceiling, the concrete being held up by my hands starting to crack. The shifting of the room came from out of nowhere and the puppets nearly got the jump on us if it wasn't for Samantha's barriers (kind of hard to sense the aura of something when it doesn't have life force). Melissa, Vargas, and Samantha were currently fighting off the puppets while I tried to push the roof up. I was able to cast my Strengthening Magic before catching it but it seemed to get heavier by the second. I grimaced when I could feel my arms creaking. "We need to go down!"

Samantha dispelled the barrier we were standing on and we fell down again, the roof chasing after us. The puppets were smashed on impact and I took out Tyrfing, channeling my Chi into the Demon Sword. Vargas saw my idea and we slashed at the wall, creating a large hole into another hall. We flew into the hole and narrowly dodged the falling roof. I watched in shock as it took 5 seconds for the entire roof to pass the hole and a massive crash resounded. The trembling was fierce.

"Who the hell makes a pitfall trap like that!?" I exclaimed and Vargas stood up, cracking his neck.

"Now I get why Aindrea hates Dwarves."

"…Wait, does that make him racist?"

"I...don't know. I think he just hates their creations." Vargas theorized. Samantha walked over to the hole and peeked over the ledge.

"Wow, that's quite a fall. The Dwarves sure are hard workers. If it had succeeded then our deaths would have been instant!" The blond healer said in awe.

"…What you find fascinating worries me Sam." Melissa offhandedly said and the healer shrugged. The Shadow Yokai looked up the pitfall. "Should we fly u-"

Before she could finish the sentence, a puppet came flying at her and she sliced it to pieces. That wasn't all because more started to pour into the hallway we were in and we had to deal with them. The puppets weren't particularly strong, one normal hit from Tyrfing was able to destroy them but they seemed to have no end. Taking out my regular sword, I cut down dozens of puppets at a time but minutes passed with seemingly no progress. I noticed when shattering a puppet to pieces that the broken parts were being absorbed into the ground. Sensing out with my Spiritual Energy, I felt magic arrays in the stone going to work. They melted down the broken pieces and manufactured more to send out to fight. I sent a wave of destruction at the ground and a trench was formed in the hallway, successfully destroying the magic arrays. I frowned when the ground repaired itself and the arrays were restored.

"What was that?!" Melissa asked as she dodged the bladed hands of the puppets. I explained how there were magic arrays in the walls to reuse the broken puppets to create new ones. Samantha sensed with her own Spiritual Energy and found them too. "So what do we do!? This will never end then!" That technically wasn't true. While the arrays made more from the destroyed pieces, there some pieces that were too damaged to be salvageable and they were slowly decreasing. We could fight it out till every puppet was smashed beyond saving but that'll take too much time.

"Book it!" Choosing our next course of action, I turned around and started to run down the hallway. The others followed shortly after and soon we had a literal tidal wave of puppets chasing us. Spikes shot out of the ground in front of us, forcing us to dodge and twirl out of their path. As if annoyed by our efforts, walls came down to block our path but I slashed through them.

'Someone's definitely controlling this place.' That or this place was alive and it really doesn't like us (the feeling was mutual). I could feel magic arrays everywhere, connected together and pulsing with power before a trap sprang at us. We needed to find the controller. Sensing as far as I could with Chi Vision, I tried to pick up any aura's I could. After running for a couple of minutes and surviving multiple traps from blow darts to poison gas, I finally located some auras. 'Found you.' I smiled once I got closer to the auras. They didn't feel like the others and one was similar to a Light Elf's. Jumping up in the air, I slammed down on the ground and it collapsed under my blow.

We fell to the floor below and came to a wide chamber. It looked like a training room, with combat dummies and weights lying around. Once the smoke cleared, I saw there was a fighting ring in the middle of the room. In the ring were a group of (really) short kids that had chains wrapped around them, Draugr were standing guard and the Elf I sensed was staring at us in shock. I smiled widely when she gained a look of realization.

"Howdy!" Creating a large Chi Sword, it went flying at the Elf and she blocked with her rapier. She was sent backwards from the force. The Draugr's rushed at us, Melissa activating Touki and meeting them head on.

"_**Ysglyfaethwr Plu Venus!"**_ The Elf woman summoned a huge venus trap and it tried to bite at us.

"_**Spiritus Custos!" **_Vargas' Avatar grappled with the plant monstrosity, ripping its jaw in two. The Elf woman continued summoning more and they swarmed the Avatar, forcing me to create my Chi Tyrant to help. Samantha used the distraction to place a barrier around the kids and float them towards us. The Light Elf didn't like that because she rushed at them but Vargas intercepted her. I grabbed the chains and ripped them off, freeing the captives.

"Where's the control room?" I asked as the kids scrambled to the side, not wanting to be caught in the fight. They looked like Dwarves so they were probably our best bet.

"I-It's a couple levels above here, b-but what about master Gunnar!?" One of the older kids stuttered a response. "W-we have to help him!" I locked eyes with Samantha, who looked equally confused on what to do.

"I'm sorry kid but I don't know whe-" I couldn't finish because the wave of puppets from earlier caught up and started to flow into the room. I smashed the face of a charging multi limbed puppet and told the kids to retreat. I took out Dáinsleif and gave him some of my Chi, his aura shining bright. I sent a sword wave at the group of puppets, encasing them in a large glacier. I cursed when the puppets caught on fire and started to melt the ice.

'_I know right? Dwarves' are too good at what they do. They made me after all! They failed at Tyrfing obviously but…_' Ignoring Dáinsleif's running commentary, I rubbed my communication ring.

"Hey Adrian, Brynhildr, can anyone hear me?" I waited a second but no one responded. I spoke a couple more times until one of the kids stepped forward.

"Here." He waved his finger and a thread came out, wrapping around my communication ring. Nordic symbols appeared on my ring and the Dwarf kid motioned with his hands to speak.

"Adrian, Brynhildr?" I tested it and after a second, I heard Adrian's voice.

"Pierce? We tried to contact you after we were separated but we couldn't get through. Is everyone alright!?"

"We're-" I looked over when I heard a large bang as the puppets escaped their icy cage but Samantha placed a barrier around them. Melissa was tearing into the quickly dwindling Draugrs and Vargas was in a heated battle with the Light Elf. "-doing alright. How about you?"

"Aindrea and I are fighting a Pjága right now, Brynhildr went ahead with Gunhild. I haven't heard from-arghh!" I heard the faint sound of steel clashing and rock crunching from his end.

"We'll catch up soon, focus on your fight." Getting one last sound of acknowledgment, I cut the communication and nodded at the kid. "Thanks."

"If you want to repay us then help our teacher." The kid said before bowing. "Please." The rest of them also started to bow, my eyes narrowing at the request. I looked around and everyone was holding their own well enough. Vargas' Avatar and my Chi Tyrant were currently helping Samantha keep the puppets at bay while Melissa was almost done with the Draugrs. I didn't care for these kid's teacher but the odds that I'm going to meet him anyway was high. He was the whole reason Talien was here and the one controlling this place (I'm assuming).

"Alright, I'll help your teacher but you're going to help me with something." I said and they looked surprised. After filling them in on my plan, I walked over to Melissa with the kids.

"What's going on?" Melissa asked as she ripped out her dagger from a Draugr's skull (is it weird I found that sexy?). Shaking my head of the odd thought, I pointed at the kids.

"They're going to be our guide." The Shadow Yokai frowned at the statement.

"We won't be able to protect all of them in this fight Pierce." She was right. There were only 4 of us with 9 of them and hundreds of other things trying to kill us.

"We don't have a choice." My face gained a stern expression. "Gunnar restored the Andvaranaut." Melissa's eyes widened at that.

"…Shit." Yeah, I had the same thought when they told me. Talien apparently arrived hours ago, probably right after his attack on the Elf City and made Gunnar restore the ring. I don't know how long Talien has been inside the tomb but we needed to move. Melissa looked over to our enemies.

"They won't let us leave so easily."

"I know that's why I have another idea but you're not going to like it. I'm taking one of the kids and going ahead while the rest stay with you guys."

"…Fine." She sighed and smiled at my surprised look. "You're right, we're running out of time and moving while fighting to protect them will only make it harder. It'll be easier if you go alone and shut this place down…don't die."

"I won't." I promised and gave her a small hug, moving to explain the plan to the others. There were two reasons I didn't send Melissa to do this plan. Reason number one was because she couldn't enter the shadow realm within the cave, the spells in this place not allowing her to (with all this protection, I'm curious how Talien got in). The other reason was because of how long Talien has been in Sigurd's Tomb. He most likely hasn't revived the dragon slayer yet because of all the resistance but if I can't make it in time to stop him then…I don't even want to think about Melissa stuck facing the legend when she can't escape into her shadows. Getting a quick "go ahead" by the blond healer and Holy Sword user, I led one of the kids to a far wall. Sending a Seismic Fist into the wall, it shattered and a hole opened up into another corridor.

"Where do you think you're going!?" The Elf woman yelled and rushed at me with her rapier but Vargas stopped her. I picked up the kid and placed him on my back, piggy back style.

"What's your name?"

"C-Cadby." He answered while wrapping his small arms around my neck in slight nervousness. I smiled.

"Well buckle up because you're my GPS now." I coated us both with Touki and crouched.

"W-What's a GP-" I left two foot indents in the ground as I jetted down the hall, his question lost in his screams.

* * *

Brynhildr ducked under the machete of a brute looking puppet, slashing it to pieces before moving on to the next one. Parrying multiple blades, she cut off their heads in a row but had to retreat when they kept attacking. Regular puppets had cores within them that were usually in their heads or chest, destroying the core would stop any regeneration. Except these puppets were connected to the control room itself, making it so they didn't need a core and could draw energy from there. But that also allowed an adept Magician like Brynhildr to follow the energy trail and make her way to the control room.

'Stupid, stupid, _stupid_!' Sadly, the Chief Valkyrie was too busy reprimanding herself to enjoy her good idea. She was not proud of her decision earlier. Choosing not to check on Gunnar, especially considering his connection with the ring, because of her prejudice on Dwarves came back to bite her. It wasn't that she hated Dwarves; it was that the majority she had met in her life were greedy, arrogant, and/or incompetent. Hell, a lot of them were a bunch of old coots that were too stuck on old practices or views. She truly believed that Gunnar couldn't fix the Andvaranaut after the Original Brynhildr sealed it.

Talien obviously thought differently.

"_**Brynja Hepta!"**_ Gunhild summoned chains that wrapped around the puppets and pierced into the walls, sticking to the arrays within. Knowing that would only slow the regeneration of the puppets for so long, the two Valkyries carved a path through the hall and reached a pair of reinforced double doors. They had many engravings on them from smith tools to Nordic warriors and war beasts.

Not in the mood to enjoy the artwork, Brynhildr lifted her foot and kicked the doors off their hinges. They went flying into the walls becoming embedded into the rock and the room was shown in its entirety. They were presented with a smith room and two beings inside, one was an elf woman and the other was a tied up Dwarf. The Elf woman looked at doors in the wall then back to the Valkyries with a bored look.

"Now that's just rude, did your mother never teach you to knock?" Brynhildr ignored the sarcastic barb from the woman and looked to the portal in the middle of the room. Her frown became even deeper after seeing the restored Andvaranaut under it.

It seemed like the Elf King was right. Gunhild placed a large magic circle at the entrance to block any puppets trying to get in and Brynhildr walked towards the Light Elf. For her part, she was completely calm with her ever present nonchalant look and slowly stood up.

"You won't be able to stop him, it's too late." The woman's words made both Valkyries on guard.

"Oh really? How do you figure that? If he was done then he would have already come out from the tomb." Brynhildr said with a smirk and narrowed her eyes when the Elf walked next to the platform.

"Because...you can't stop what you can't reach." She quickly took out a dagger and jabbed at the ring, piercing through it. The Valkyries were shocked at the new development, not expecting the Elf to essentially trap her leader in a closed off dimension, and charged. Gunhild tackled the Elf, pinning her to the ground and the elf pushed her off. Brynhildr tried to stabilize the ring but more cracks appeared and the portal started to warp, slowly shrinking in size. Seeing how little time remained and how no spell she tried stopped the cracking, the Chief Valkyrie did the only thing she could do.

'Fuck it.' Internally saying the two words that usually promised recklessness, she dived into the portal before it got too small and entered the Tomb of Sigurd. Hearing the barely audible voice of a yelling Gunhild, Brynhildr saw a myriad of different colors pass her vision before a bright yellow light hit her face. Shielding her eyes from the glare, she realized the light was coming from the bright sun high in the sky. The Chief Valkyrie looked down at her feet and saw she was standing on tall grass that reached her mid calf. 'T-This is the tomb?'

No one had ever been inside the Tomb of Sigurd, not even Odin, since the Original Brynhildr created it. Many had theories on how the tomb looked with Brynhildr having her own ideas. Some said it was a traditional Viking burial site while others said it was a massive castle made from pure gold. While the Chief Valkyries didn't agree with those guesses, finding them too grandiose, she did assume the tomb had to contain many relics or artifacts.

But instead of a castle of gold or a historical site, all Brynhildr saw for miles on end was a wide, grassy plain. Tall mountains could be seen in the distance and a stone path heading north, flowers decorating the sides. Remembering her mission, she followed the stone path for a couple of minutes and came to a point where a massive smoking crater laid. The Chief Valkyrie knelt down and observed the crater, finding burnt clothing on the edge.

"Security Magic…" Brynhildr sensed the remnants of the magic spell, triggered not too long ago. She continued to follow the path and came across another scene of carnage but instead of a smoking crater, there were long cut marks on the ground. She didn't give the minor blood stains another look. Brynhildr picked up the pace; flying at low altitude in case there was some sort of Security Magic spell that prevented her from flying too high (she wouldn't put it past the Original Brynhildr). After passing 3 more places that were destroyed in some way, Brynhildr arrived at a hill. The stone path went up a hill and a group of trees rested at the top.

Brynhildr reached the top in no time and found 2 destroyed Gargoyles lying at the entrance of the trees. Not minding the creatures known for their magic resistance, The Chief Valkyrie walked past them and soon heard hoarse chanting. Recognizing the voice, she started to run towards the source and found what she was looking for. Talien's form hovered in the air above a white stone coffin. The lid was tossed aside to reveal the shriveled corpse of a man and a bright red glowing sword resting within.

"_**Ventus Ambulate!" **_Casting a Strengthening Spell to boost her speed, Brynhildr blindsided the spell casting Talien and sent him flying through multiple trees. Not giving the Elf King a chance to breathe upon landing, Brynhildr flew to Talien and pierced at his chest.

"Arghh!" The Elf King grabbed the sword, successfully making it avoid his heart but it still pierced into his torso. Getting a closer look at the Elf King, Brynhildr saw just how ragged he was. His skin was a sickly pale, skinner then the last time they met, and she could feel his weakened Spiritual Energy. Such were the consequences for constantly using forbidden magic to its limit like the Pjaga spell; having to get through the high level Security magic and the Gargoyles to reach Sigurd made his condition even worse. Brynhildr didn't relent however and pushed her sword even deeper, causing Talien to start losing his grip on her arm. She frowned when she saw him smiling.

"What's that smile for? It's over." The Chief Valkyrie pushed down to make her point but he just chuckled, painting his lips in blood.

"Yeah…it is over." Brynhildr was incredibly confused about where the self satisfied look was coming from. I mean she stopped his spell, how can-

Then she heard the footsteps behind her. Pulling out her sword, she twirled around and blocked. A huge force clashed against her sword and she was flung back, her feet digging into the ground. Brynhildr hissed from the throbbing in her arms and looked at her attacker in apprehension. Though what she saw confused her. Standing there was a tall man with black hair, coal like skin and clean clothes. In his right hand was a large double-edged sword with golden markings and a red aura. It was the Demonic Emperor Sword, Gram. Everything pointed to this undead in front of Brynhildr being Sigurd yet…

'His aura…isn't as impressive as I thought it would be.' Brynhildr had seen the auras of the other Pjágas and while Sigurd surpassed all of them in terms of sheer density, it wasn't overwhelming (even the red light in his eyes was faint). This was the human that killed Fafnir? The Chief Valkyrie met the Golden Dragon before and from memory, the undead in front of her wouldn't stand a chance. 'Did the Sons of Ivaldi make Gram _too_ effective against Dragons?' Brynhildr peeked over to the side where Talien was originally and didn't see him.

Sigurd used that moment to charge at her. Learning from the past, she didn't try to parry his swings and dodged, slashing at his throat. He tilted his head out of the way by inches and slashed back, forcing her to dodge again. The sword fight quickly escalated into a hit and run game, with neither one gaining a hit. Brynhildr moved through the trees, not allowing herself to focus too hard on Sigurd with Talien still around.

"_**Folk Galti." **_Brynhildr waved her hand and an ethereal boar charged at Sigurd. The dragon slayer just raised Gram and lightly swung down. The Chief Valkyrie watched in shock as a wave of destruction split her boar down the middle and continued towards her. She dodged out of the way and watched as the trail of destruction went for hundreds of meters, leaving a deep trench on the hill. The Chief Valkyrie started to sweat.

'I'm never assuming anything ever again.' She gripped her sword and parried Sigurd's barrage of slashes, counterattacking when she could.

She didn't notice how his swings were slowly getting faster.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

I have never appreciated forethought more than in this moment. I figured having a guide to lead me to the control room was a good idea because it would be better than running around blind or trying to sense around with Chi Vision till I found someone. This place was a god damn maze. After Cadby got over my running speed, he started to give simple directions like "make a left", "go right", "head up those stairs", and even "go down that hatch" (that happened twice already). We were lucky that we landed close to the Light Elf and the captives because actually trying to reach a specific place in here was disorienting.

"Okay who was your architect because this is ridiculous!" I said while climbing up the third hatch to the upper levels (whatever happened to stairs?).

"Whoever's in the control room activated the shift phase and that's what made everything hard to navigate. It's usually not this weird." Cadby explained and I grumbled, seeing a fourth hatch. Choosing to just jump to the next level, I smashed through the ceiling and ended up back in the main hall.

"Where to?"

"Down that way, to the left." Cadby pointed down the hall and I did as he said. I noticed a while ago that the walls have stopped trying to block my path and the magic puppets stopped coming out of the walls. It made me wonder if Adrian or Brynhildr reached the control room and stopped the controller. After running for a minute, I reached my destination and saw a horde of puppets trying to break a magic circle blocking a door. Summoning Jade, I took out Dáinsleif and tried something I wanted to test out.

Activating _Advent of the Jade Warrior_, I channeled Chi into Dáinsleif and sent a sword wave at the horde. The puppets were instantly frozen in dark green ice, the attack even freezing the magic circle solid before it shattered. I smiled when the puppets tried to melt their way out but were unsuccessful. I guess using my Chi as a medium for Jade's power and Dáinsleif was pretty effective (the fact they were both ice based probably helped). Hopping over the ice puppets, I entered the control room just in time to see Gunhild slam an Elf woman against the wall. The woman groggily fell to the ground, her face bleeding from the Valkyries' attack. She didn't see me so I sent a Chi Spear through her chest, turning her to ice and alerting Gunhild to my arrival.

"Pierce? Where is everyone else?"

"Fighting a horde of murder puppets and the other Elf." I explained while Cadby jumped off my back, heading over to help his master.

"Master Gunnar! Are you alright!?" The young Dwarf hovered over his master, worry in his tone.

"I'm okay Cadby but where are the others? Are they alright?" Gunnar, who looked surprised to see his disciple, was relieved and asked about his other disciples. Cadby answered while trying to undo the bindings.

"They're still down in the lower levels, everyone's okay but we need to hurry before it's too late!" Cadby kept pulling at the chains but they wouldn't budge and I felt pity when his face started getting red from overexertion.

"Let me." I stepped forward and took hold of the chains. Crushing the metal in my palms, the chains fell harmlessly to the ground and Gunnar stretched.

"Thank you." The Dwarf bowed in thanks but I shook my head.

"If you want to thank me then shut this place down, my friends are still fighting." Gunnar paused before nodding in agreement and stood up. The blood must have drained from his legs because he stumbled and I caught him, lending him my arm as we walked over to the throne. I observed the screens floating in the air and saw the other's still fighting in the training room. No one was hurt with Vargas actually zooming around the room, cutting any puppet unfortunate enough to be in the Holy Sword user's way. Melissa was forcing the Light Elf on the defense while Samantha formed a barrier around her and the Dwarf kids, sending out bursts of light that obliterated some puppets. They were all holding their own quite easily but like I assumed, the rate that the puppets were being destroyed was incredibly slow. If we were to fight till they were all beyond saving then the sun would come back up by the time we were finished.

'Moments like this make me wish I had my own red haired boss that can make black orbs of annihilation.' Wistfully thinking of the future Ruin Princess' useful power, I frowned when Gunnar cursed in Norse. "What?"

"That damn Elf corrupted the controls, they're not responding to my signature." Gunnar's hand started to move over every magic circle.

"Can you fix it?"

"Yeah but I'm going to need a minute. Cadby, come here and try to reconfigure the core while I-"

"Stop! Fix this before you do anything!" Gunhild spoke and held out her palms, fragments lying on top. I got closer to see what it was and widened my eyes.

"Is that the Andvaranaut? But he said it was fixed?" The Valkyrie grimly frowned.

"It was repaired and the portal was open but the Elf broke it…Brynhildr jumped inside before it closed." Gunhild looked at Gunnar after explaining. "Please fix it, she may need help!" Gunnar took the fragments from Gunhild and observed them before shaking his head.

"I can't restore it."

"What!? But you did before!"

"Yeah, when it was professionally cut apart to maintain the spell within. She just smashed it apart without consequence; I don't even think these are all the pieces."

"Please, just try something." I asked while Gunhild looked on worried. The son of Andvari rubbed his chin in thought before walking away and heading into a room in the back. Gunhild and I looked at each other before watching Gunnar walk back out. He brought the ring fragments back to the platform and placed them with a small box. The Dwarf opened the box and saw some silver colored mud inside. "What is that?"

"Magical Salve." Gunnar dipped his hand in the salve and rubbed it over the broken pieces, slowly putting them back together. "I can't meld the pieces together because of its fractured state but I can restore it for a short amount of time."

"So you're putting a bandaid on it?"

"I…I suppose so? I'm sorry but what's a bandaid?" Gunnar asked in confusion but his hands never stopped and soon, the ring was restored but with countless small cracks on it. The Dwarf placed the ring on the platform. "Now one of you will need to feed it magic."

"What?" We both asked in confusion.

"The salve will only hold the ring together but the array to self-sustain itself was lost when it was shattered. One of you will need to feed it to keep the portal open or it'll close by itself." He left with that and went to help Cadby shut down the defenses. Gunhild and I stood in silence for a second before I stepped forward.

"Alright then, let's do this. I just need to pour my Spiritual Energy into this right? When it opens I'll try to hold out as long as I-"

"I'll do it Pierce." Gunhild stopped me and lightly pushed me out of the way. "I have a better handle when it comes to these things and if Talien has already reanimated Sigurd then you'll be a better help. Besides, I have far more Spiritual Energy then a human, even one as odd as you."

"…" She had me there. I couldn't refute her words as she stretched out her arms and started to feed the ring her power. It started to glow, with Nordic symbols appearing on it. While the glow coming from the cracks worried me, the light eventually gathered over it and a small portal formed. I looked the portal up and down before reaching out a hand.

"Pierce." Gunhild called out to me the moment my hand was about to touch the portal and I looked to her, the Valkyrie's face deadly serious. "I know you got your mission and we haven't known each other for long but…bring her back safe, please." I stared at the Valkyrie for a second to smile.

"You got it." I finished with that and turned to the portal, diving right in. Watching as every color in the spectrum passed me, the feeling of weightlessness that usually comes with teleporting stopped and I blinked at the bright sun. Looking around in confusion at the incredibly peaceful setting, I focused and followed the convenient stone path. Running so fast I was practically a blur, my Chi Vision finally picked up Brynhildr's spiritual energy.

I ran even faster when I felt it slam to the ground. Traversing the craters that laid on the path, I saw the Chief Valkyrie fighting against a Pjága on what looked like a destroyed hill. With Dáinsleif still in hand, I sent an ice pillar flying to the Pjága. It pushed back Brynhildr and met the flying glacier with the swing of its sword. The pillar shattered but that left enough time for Brynhildr to back away and catch her breath. Reaching Brynhildr's side, I placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her some of my Chi. The Chief Valkyrie's aura became a bit stronger and her breathing became less strained. Accepting her thanks with a silent nod, I stared at the undead in front of us. I narrowed my eyes at the recognizable glowing red sword in its hand.

"Sigurd, I'm assuming." I got nothing but eerie silence from the dragon slayer.

'_Well I'll be damned, never thought I'd ever see the day where we face the Queen. I knew things were going to be interesting with you around kid but this was unexpected!_' Dáinsleif spoke in a shocked tone before it turned serious. '_I hate to say this but you should really take out Tyrfing. I know you want to wait till you get a better handle on our power but you don't want to face Gram just with me. Trust me._' Taking the Demon Sword's word for it, I took out the other magic weapon.

'…_Gram? Really? What the hell did I miss!?_' Tyrfing's reaction spoke volumes of the current situation. Waiting for Brynhildr to get back to her feet, I held up both swords in preparation for Sigurd.

"Wait Pierce, be careful he can-" Whatever Brynhildr had to say was interrupted by Sigurd slashing down with his sword and a sword wave came rushing at us. We separated, allowing the wave to pass us and leave a trail of destruction. I rushed at the Pjága and clashed my Demon Swords against his. I gritted my teeth when I saw that he moved back a step before forcing me back. Swinging with both my swords, Sigurd parried them all with finesse and jumped away when I tried to kick his legs. I barraged him with Chi Swords but he blurred around the battlefield, cutting the ones he couldn't dodge.

"_**Gryttr Ham. Auka Atrið." **_My Touki turned silver as I coninued attacking the undead. Brynhildr was also sending elemental attacks towards Sigurd, getting in close whenever his attention was on me and successfully left a gash on his arm. Jade froze the ground around us solid, Sigurd stumbling from the ice and I channeled Chi into Tyrfing. I swung the charged Demon Sword at Sigurd's face but he titled his head, dodging the swing by inches and the attack obliterated the ground next to Sigurd. He retaliated by swinging Gram towards my neck and I blocked it with Dáinsleif.

I had to grit my teeth as Gram's destructive power slammed against Dáinsleif and a shockwave rang out, sending me flying through the air. I landed on my feet, creating a large crater and the loss of feeling in my left hand. Sigurd rushed at me but Brynhildr raised the earth in front of him and blocked his path. Sigurd cut through the rock easily enough and I sent an ice wave at him, forcing him to block with Gram. The Demonic Emperor Sword was encased in ice and I used the moment to slam my foot in his chest, sending him flying through a large boulder. Channeling Chi into Dáinsleif, and starting to feel the fatigue from using two Demon Sword abilities back to back, I pointed the sword at the sky.

"_**Svalr Hregg!" **_Using the same spell King Hǫgniused used in the catacombs (courtesy of Dáinsleif) a magic circle appeared above Sigurd and snow piled out. Hitting the dragon slayer with the full force of a primal blizzard, he tried to escape but Brynhildr placed a large barrier around the spell radius. The Chief Valkyrie began sweating as she maintained the barrier, Sigurd hitting it with Gram to escape but he eventually stopped and lowered the Demon Sword. We felt our moods lift when the snow slowly started to cover Sigurd and he stilled.

Then he lifted Gram and pointed at us through the barrier.

"_**Móðr Til Einn Gramr." **_We barely had the chance to jump back before a beam of red obliterated the barrier and blizzard, passing us and continuing towards the horizon. I wasn't hit but the wind still sent me flying through multiple trees and I groaned as dust covered my vision. Sitting up, I watched as the dust cleared and Sigurd stood in the middle of a huge crater. The undead dragon slayer was glowing in a blood red aura, identical to the aura on Gram and his aura continued to grow every second.

Blinking when he suddenly disappeared, I rolled out of the way and Sigurd pierced where I originally was. Hastily getting up, I barely blocked Sigurd's swing and took a knee to the stomach. Heaving from the attack that had far more strength than it did earlier, Sigurd slashed at my legs and left a nasty cut. I ignored the searing wound and wildly slashed at Sigurd as I retreated but he pressed on. The wound on my leg was having trouble healing so it hindered my movements and he took full advantage of it, slashing at my leg whenever he could.

"Duck!" Sensing her approach long ago, I did as instructed and Brynhildr slashed at Sigurd, forcing him to dodge back. The Chief Valkyries' sword barely nicked the Pjága, leaving a shallow mark across his face. I used the chance to cut Sigurd on the shoulder and Brynhildr pulled me back, flying into the forest of rubble created from our fight. She chose a large rock to hide behind and we both sat down, taking a breather. Brynhildr summed up the situation in four words.

"This isn't going well." I snorted.

"Don't sugar coat it now, tell it to me straight." I tried to lighten the mood and got a small smile out of the Valkyrie. I peeked over the rock, not seeing any sight of the undead menace and I couldn't sense his life force since he didn't have any. 'True Descendant my ass.' Canon Siegfried was practically fodder compared to the man he was supposed to be. From his strength, speed, hell even how they use Gram is worlds apart (I don't remember there being any mention of that spell he used). I could be wrong since he's only fought a selective number of times and he did beat the entire Gremory team when he turned into a monster spider but I still doubted it.

"We should retreat." Brynhildr suddenly said that and I looked at her with a frown.

"But what about Sigurd?"

"He's too dangerous by ourselves, he's getting stronger as the fight goes on and we have no idea where Talien is. We should escape and come back with the others." Brynhildr reasoned and while she had many good points, there were multiple problems I made clear. If we try to escape then Sigurd will definitely follow and he may come with us through the portal before we would be able to tell Gunhild to close it, not to mention the possibility that Talien may have a way out of here. There were also the two other Pjága outside with the puppets most likely still attacking the others. Adding Sigurd to the battlefield did not sound like a good idea and Talien may leave entirely with him. It just made more sense to fight him here. The Chief Valkyrie looked reluctant but agreed in the end. "Fine but we need a plan."

I fell into deep thought, trying to figure out how we were going to take down Sigurd. He was too strong to overpower and too fast for any of my stronger attacks to land. I doubt I could ask Gram to betray Sigurd since she hasn't spoken to me yet (both Demon Swords said the sword was a she) and he is her original use-

"Wait." I looked up at Brynhildr in confusion. "Did Talien seal Gram like he did Dáinsleif and Tyrfing?"

"No, from what I've seen, there is no seal on Gram. It was the first thing I looked for." Brynhildr shook her head and an idea formed in my head.

"Hey Brynhildr, you wouldn't happen to know the sealing spell Talien used do you?"

"Yeah, I do."

"...Can you use it in a fight?" Brynhildr looked confused at the question before realization appeared in her eyes and they narrowed.

"Yes but it would only last a second at best, Gram is far better than either of your Demon Swords."

'_Hey!_'

'_How rude._'

"That's all I need." I ignored the offended Demon Swords and stood up, stretching my limbs. I looked down at Brynhildr and widely smiled. "Let's go Subjugate a Dragon Slayer."

* * *

**10 Minutes Later**

Sigurd calmly walked along the destroyed grounds, Gram held tightly in his right hand and his red aura still active. The undead's eyes roamed the debris and tried to find where we were hiding. I leaned back against a tall boulder, out of view of the Dragon Slayer and took deep breaths. I listened to Sigurd as he stepped on the gravel, slowly making his way over in my direction. I opened my eyes when I heard him stop. Rolling out the way, the tall boulder was sliced in half by Gram and Sigurd lunged at me. I got to work parrying and blocking every swing that came at me, using the terrain to my advantage. Dodging a wave of destruction that shattered another boulder, I left a shallow cut on Sigurd's stomach and retreated when he tried to cut my head off.

I led him further into the rubble, landing any hit I could but none were substantial and he managed to slash me on the forehead. Blood flowed into my eye and Sigurd grabbed me by the arm, throwing me to the ground. The ground cracked under me and I jumped up, kicking the Pjága in the face. That didn't faze him and he was on me again. Our hands were blurs as magic steel clashed dozens of times, my hands numbing from every clash. It was an odd situation for me really; it was usually something ten times my size that forces me to exert my strength to the limit. It's a recent change that beings my size are matching me blow for blow.

"Arghh!" Sigurd slashed my wrist, blood flowing from the seared flesh and forcing me to hold him back with Tyrfing until my wrist healed. Sigurd pressed down on the Demon Sword and elbowed me in the face. I hissed when my nose broke and kicked him in the head, sending him to the ground. He quickly got up and I sent my Chi Tyrant at him, backing up while they fought. Sigurd instantly destroyed the Chi creation with a sword wave and sent another one at me, forcing me to dodge. I breathed out when he slowly approached me and I could've sworn he gave me an unimpressed look. He lifted Gram and his aura flared, the intensity increasing by multiple folds. He was looking to end this.

"Brynhildr now!" The moment Sigurd was about to attack, a magic circle appeared under him and chains wrapped around him. The Chief Valkyrie lunged at Sigurd from behind a rock and clashed against Gram, touching the blade with her hand. The chains around Sigurd's arm broke and his fist connected with Brynhildr's face, sending her flying back. Putting away Dáinsleif, I grasped Tyrfing with both hands and used Sword Fury. A ten meter blade of Chi appeared like always but I could feel Tyrfing's pure, destructive power seep into my Chi and I was having trouble keeping it contained.

'Go!' Tyrfing yelled and I Chi Burst to Sigurd. He was waiting for me and gathered the red aura around Gram, a light hum radiated from the sword to show the power stored within. Sigurd didn't notice the Magic Rune that rested on Gram. Just before we clashed the rune activated and the red aura around Gram dispersed. Sigurd's undead eyes widened in shock at the development. He tried to back away but an ice barrier blocked his retreat, Jade sticking out her tongue at the Dragon Slayer from her position on a boulder. Sigurd could only guard with Gram as my attack hit him head on.

A massive shockwave rang out, everything from the rubble to the ice barrier shattering and Sigurd was flung hundreds of meters away. I watched Gram make a parabola in the air and pierce into the ground on landing, Sigurd's arm still holding onto the handle even though it wasn't connected to the rest of the body. I knelt down on the ground and took in labored breaths, feeling exhaustion throughout my body. I was tapped. Back to back fights through the cave, using both Demon Swords at the same time _and_ fighting a legendary Dragon Slayer made my Chi reserves run dry. Beneath Sigurd's superhuman strength, speed and skill, there was above average but still mortal durability. And I took full advantage of that fact to land a finishing blow. It took me a couple of seconds to realize what I just did. I beat Sigurd. I beat the legendary killer of Fafnir himself (and I was alive). I couldn't stop the smile that made its way on my face.

"What's with that face?" Brynhildr's voice rang out and I looked up to the Chief Valkyrie. She was walking back from where Sigurd was flung and dropped his body on the ground. He was a mess with his arm, leg and a portion of his torso obliterated. The light in his eyes was long gone. I blinked at the Chief Valkyrie before smiling.

"We just beat a Dragon Slayer. I think I deserve a moment."

"At a fraction of his strength." My smile dimmed at Brynhildr's words but she didn't stop. "Even at his best, Talien would have never had enough power to bring Sigurd back at his full strength. He was gaining back his old strength quite fast but it was still only a fraction of his true power. We were lucky to beat him before he got any stronger."

"…"

"…"

"…You sure know how to rip into a guy's win." I sighed and sat down, slumping at the Valkyrie's words.

"It's the truth." She shrugged and stayed silent for a second before sighing. "But…I guess it was pretty awesome." The Chief Valkyrie smiled down at me.

"Brynhildr…" I made a moved face and she rolled her eyes. I knew she was right, if Sigurd did kill Fafnir in his outrage mode then there was no way I could have beaten him if he was at his full power. I was honestly surprised how well I was doing against him at the beginning but I figured out that he wasn't fully restored. 'Still counts.' Standing up slowly so as to not aggravate my wounds, I walked over to Brynhildr but stopped halfway when the glowing form of Gram caught my eye. I stared at the Demonic Emperor Sword in silent contemplation.

"…Are you going to try or stand there all day?" Brynhildr deadpanned and I blushed in embarrassment, walking towards the sword. Prying the dismembered hand from the handle, I reached out to grab Gram. I could feel the answer before my hand grasped the handle. I pulled my hand back when Gram started to heat up and the aura dimmed a second later. I blinked at the small tinge of red on my palm.

"…This is the second time I've been rejected by a sword…what is my life?" I asked and Brynhildr stood next to me, looking down at the sword.

"Pity, Gram is an incredibly powerful weapon."

"It's whatever, I already have Tyrfing and Dáinsleif. You can't win them all."

'_Awww, love you too man!_' Dainsleif said happily from within the space ring and I shook my head in amusement. I picked up the body of Sigurd under the confused gaze of Brynhildr and brought it over to Gram, lying it next to the sword. I shrugged at the look the Chief Valkyrie gave me.

"Seemed right." Brynhildr just gave a small nod. We flew up into the air and made our way back to the path we came. "So where do you think Talien went?"

"He probably escaped when Sigurd fell." Brynhildr said while we flew. "If he did escape then he most likely went through the portal and Gunhild is waiting on the other side. If he isn't then we'll just close the portal and trap him in here."

"Hm." I nodded in agreement, seeing how we won regardless at the end of the day. We flew for a minute in silence then Brynhildr spoke up.

"Hey Pierce." I looked at her, a grateful look on her face. "Thank you, for coming to save me. I know a lesser man would have cowered at the thought of facing Sigurd."

"…Don't mention it Brynhildr." We settled into peaceful silence after that and reached the place where the portal was. Problem is it wasn't there anymore. "I guess that answers that question. Do you think she'll be okay?"

"Talien was pretty much crippled by the time I got to him, he shouldn't be a problem. But how are we getting back?" She furrowed her brow and walked around, waving her hand in the air.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to find any remnant of the portal. Space magic always leaves traces behind." Oh right, I think Grayfia explained that some time ago but I forgot.

"You think this will help?" I rubbed my space ring and took out the fragment that she gave me back in the Elf city. She took it with a quick "thanks" and got to work trying to open another portal. I stood patiently on the side, enjoying the beautiful scenery.

'_What's wrong?_' Tyrfing asked when I sighed.

"Just disappointed that Gram didn't accept me using her. She would have been really handy."

'_I get you but you did win a great victory, be happy about that. Besides, I knew she would not have chosen to go with you._'

"What does that mean? Why not?"

'_She likes pretty boys._'

"…"

'…'

"…I believe you." That explains a lot actually. And speaking of pretty boys…how exactly is Siegfried going to get Gram now? I know the church wanted to create a perfect clone of Sigurd to wield the Demonic Sword but now that Gram is going to stay inside this tomb and we plan to close it on the way out…how are they going to get it? (I mean, even the key to get in was completely smashed).

'…I just messed up the plot again didn't I?' I didn't really care for Siegfried getting it but that means Yuuto won't get it either and he needs that power to keep up with the others. '…Oh well.' Shrugging it off, I watched Brynhildr successfully create another portal with the fragment and we stepped through it.

* * *

**Finland, Malmr Forest**

Within a magical forest protected by ancient magic, a fierce battle had just concluded. Many trees were destroyed with hundreds of wolf corpses littering the ground. In the center of the chaotic battlefield was the corpse of a huge creature. The creature had the body of a man but it was covered with fur, its nails razor sharp and the head was a wolf's. This was the Werewolf King Ferox. The Homer party looked down at the corpse, everyone injured and exhausted from the battle.

"Damn he was tough; I didn't know he'd get stronger with other wolves around. I thought that only applied with other werewolves." Achilles said while rubbing a claw shaped wound dangerously close to his neck.

"It could apply to any vassal wolf under them…I want a bath." Celica groaned at her torn robes, dirt and blood staining them. She never did like getting physically dirty, used to defeating opponents with her ranged magic. Odysseus ripped out his trident from Ferox's heart, waving it to take off the werewolf's blood. He turned to the rest of his team.

"Alright, now that we're finished with Ferox we can go help the other team with Talien. Take a fifteen minute break to get your bearings together before we head out. Let's hope this night will soon be over." The Spirit inheritor and fairy descendant groaned at the order but didn't debate. Celica sat down for the break and Achilles looked over to Phonemes who was staring out into the distance.

"Hey, you okay big guy?" Achilles walked over and patted the half-Cyclops on the back but got no reaction. 'He's been quiet since we defeated Ferox.' Phonemes had his fair share of wounds but most were already healing from his natural healing powers and he was usually more reactive after a fight. 'What is he looking at?' Achilles looked in the direction where Phonemes was staring but he couldn't see anything.

"Hm?" Odysseus felt his communication ring pulse and when he answered he was surprised to hear the voice of his patron, the God of the Sea Poseidon.

"Odysseus!?"

"Hello my Lord, I'm here. You'll be happy to know we just finished defeating the Monster General Fero-"

"That doesn't matter right now; you need to take your team and go!" Poseidon's frantic tone worried Odysseus.

"What's wrong? Has something happened in Olympus? Has Zeth-"

"Odysseus! Leave the area, _Now!_"

While he was confused with his lord's order, he did as instructed and told Celica to immediately get them out of here. The fairy got to work making a teleportation spell, which took longer than usual because of her fatigue and Achilles was asking what was going on.

Phonemes didn't react to anything happening behind him, fully lost in what he was seeing. Being half-Cyclops, Phonemes didn't just have the physical capabilities of a regular Cyclops like superhuman strength and healing but he also had their legendary sight. He could see dozens of miles in the direction he's looking; see Mana like he was an experienced magician and his vision wasn't hindered by the dark. Even under the tall trees that hid the moon, Phonemes could see clear as day. And on top of the mountain, past the trees and over the prairie, something appeared that set the half-Cyclops on edge.

There, floating over the mountain, was a unique magic circle. It pulsed with power that drawed in the Mana from the surroundings towards it and an odd insignia was in the center. Phonemes didn't recognize the insignia but he did know what he was looking at.

'A Dragon Gate.' The term echoed in Phonemes head and what happened next shocked him to his core. A large scaly hand popped out of the circle, grabbing its edge and a dragon's head exited. Soon the entire body of the Dragon came out of the gate and it sniffed the air before turning in the direction of the Homer team. Phonemes would swear to every deity in this world that this legendary creature, that was dozens of miles away, looked past the dense forest they were in and stared right into the half-Cyclop's eyes. Then it smiled at him. Phonemes was petrified as Celica's spell slowly covered them in light.

"Now can someone tell me what's going-" Achilles never got to finish his question as they teleported away and a mountain sized lightning bolt landed in their original position.

* * *

Druk watched the destruction caused by his attack in a daze. '…They got away didn't they?' The yellow and blue colored dragon sighed at the fact. Zeth wanted to deal with these pesky Emissary groups that have been targeting his generals and ordered the ones under attack to call for backup when they arrived. The Monster God never took into account that the majority of his generals were just as arrogant as he was and believed they could handle the Emissaries themselves.

Irony was a beautiful thing wasn't it? Druk flew down to the Emissaries' former location, the entire forest no more. The countless trees were instantly incinerated and the thousands of meters of ground were blackened, mostly likely to stain the earth for many years to come. It was the best Druk could do from that distance, seeing how they were going to teleport away and he sensed Ferox was already dead.

'He's not going to be happy about this.' Druk thought in annoyance at the Monster God's reaction and, as if in a hurry to prove him right, his communication ring pulsed. A ring appeared on the dragon's large palm and he answered, waiting for the God to speak first.

"Report." A deep male voice came from the ring, giving one command.

"Um, I arrived at the location of where Ferox was recruiting the Mamlr wolves to the army and fighting the Emissary group but I was too late to stop them." Druk gave a rough summary of the situation and instantly got a response.

"And Ferox?"

"…He's dead." Druk got silence after that and started to explain why. "I was sleeping when Ferox called for back-up and by the looks of it, he only did so when he was on his last ropes."

"…I see." Zeth spoke these two words before hanging up, finding the conversation over. Druk sighed.

'Yep, he's pissed.' I mean, it wasn't his fault. Zeth told all his Generals that the moment an Emissary group arrived to kill them; they were to call for the other's to destroy them. He didn't feel like losing anymore Generals because of arrogance or foolishness, Froid and Shiruku being prime examples. Druk knew Zeth would get over it but a wounded God's pride was an annoying thing. Druk took off into the air and flew above the clouds, thinking on how to avoid the headache waiting for him back in the Monster God's domain. At least he wasn't the only one dealing with this.

The Dragon King thought on his fellow General while flying towards the horizon, wondering if the Oni was having any luck on his end.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

I could see the moon. That was the first thing I thought of when we came out of the portal and it instantly confused. Why? Because the entrance to Sigurd's tomb was inside a ring that was deep within a cave, I should not be able to see the moon. I thought that Brynhildr may have teleported us outside the cave but what I saw stopped that thought dead in its tracks.

"What the hell…" Brynhildr said in awe as we saw the completely destroyed remains of the cave. I saw now that the reason I could see the moon was because of the massive hole on the mountain side. The control room was partly untouched by the mountain of rubble and the waterfall on the side was warped out of place.

"Pierce!" I looked over to where I was called and saw Melissa coming out from under some rubble. She had multiple long cuts on her body and her haired was a mess.

"Melissa? What happen-" I stopped once I saw the fearful look she was giving me 'No.' I realized she wasn't looking at me. She was looking behind-

"Well that's one way to make an entrance." The amused voice of a man rang out and I turned around. What I saw was no "man". I didn't spare Talien's bloodied and ragged form a glance and stared right at the being in front of me. He was tall, about two meters in height with purple skin, wild grey hair, a beard and yellow eyes with black sclera. He had two horns growing out of his hair and a loose robe on, the only thing on his belt being a club and a gourd.

'An Oni?' The first thing that came to mind was the mythical Yokai, not knowing they were real since Melissa never spoke of them. I became on guard as the Oni turned to Talien and asked him a question.

"Are they with them?" The Elf King gave a feeble nod and the Oni gave a quick "I see" before looking back at me. "That's a real shame, you looked pretty interesting."

"Who are you-" I asked as I lifted Tyrfing and blinked when the Oni disappeared before my eyes. Time slowed to a crawl as all of my instincts screamed at me to move and I pushed Brynhildr to the side.

Then a purple fist connected with my chest and a fierce crunch exploded in my ear, darkness coming over me shortly after.

* * *

Annnnddddd…cliffhanger. I don't really consider the past chapters cliffhanger's because a chapter has to end somewhere and it should end somewhere interesting. Ramblings aside, Pierce has foiled a General's plan and beat a legendary Dragon Slayer. Now it's time to hit him with some good old fashioned reality. I hope you enjoyed it!

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	32. Chapter 31

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Bridd: **Well of course that's a given. Just like Vali bailing Issei and them from Kokabiel or Sun Wukong rescuing them from the Hero Faction. While I didn't like how Ichiei made Kokabiel be taken out by Vali like it was nothing, I very much agree with what he was trying to portray. Just because you aren't ready to face a certain opponent doesn't mean they won't come knocking on your door and then break it down when you don't answer. The majority of Pierce's opponents have been within his relative ability to handle but that was bound to run out. This is one of those moments.

**006Sam: **Thank you for the incredibly constructive review; I can already see how to improve my writing from "CRINGE!" From all of your reviews, I can only assume you don't like my writing and ideas yet here you still are, so I must be doing something right. Oh well, a review is a review I guess so thanks for that.

**wanderhawk1: **Thank you for the kind words! You'll need to read to find out Pierce's fate but I'm glad you agreed with my decision to not give him Gram. Getting power boosts left and right is not the best since you'll quickly become the jack of all trades but master of none, besides getting constant upgrades make said upgrades feel cheap (looking at you Issei). As for his strength compared to the main cast? He's stronger than Issei when he finished training with Tannin and could honestly flatten Rizer by himself. So close to a regular Ultimate-Class being.

* * *

**Chapter 31: Back to the Old Grind**

Disclaimer: …Hm? Oh shi-*puts down ice cream in a hurry and clears throat*. Um, I don't own Highschool DxD but the OCs are mine so I have something to be proud of…Okay. *Picks back up ice cream* Ah Cookie Dough.

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – _'Neat'_

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

She didn't get it. Everything was going alright, the puppets systematically shut down at once and the Light Elf she was fighting was on her last legs. Literally the last leg as the Shadow Yokai cut off one of them with Kamaitachiand, the Light Elf hobbled around using her magic to stay in the fight. Vargas slammed his shield into her shoulder and sent her flying to the ground, allowing Melissa to slash at her side. She was able to move out of the way of a fatal cut but was still nicked on the arm. Thanks to Kamaitachiunique feature, the Light Elf didn't feel it and aggravated the wound with her movement. At the rate her wounds were bleeding, the Light Elf didn't have long before she died of blood loss. They practically won this fight. Yet a sense of unease crept up her back and for the life of her, Melissa couldn't understand.

Then she felt "it" and shuddered. She wasn't a sensor type Yokai, the majority of her childhood training focusing on stealth and combat but she wasn't useless in the category. While she couldn't compare to the sheer range Pierce possessed, she could still sense her fair share of auras if she focused hard enough.

And what she felt made her heart stop. It was an ocean. That was the best Melissa could compare it to. A deep, massive ocean of Chi. It was just like the time when she used her sensing powers on the Gods and Goddesses of Olympus, the disparity in strength made the Shadow Yokai freeze in place. Then she felt in horror as the "ocean" gathered its Chi and aimed right in their direction. Melissa stretched out her shadows to cover everyone under their confused looks.

"Brace-" Then the cave walls came crashing down.

* * *

Her head hurt.

"…ssa…"

Her vision was blurry.

"…elissa…"

She tried to move but everything was sore. She could feel the pool of blood forming under her. Was she going to di-

"Melissa!" Samantha's voice brought her back to reality. Blinking away the white spots, the healer's worried face came into view. "Oh thank god, you weren't reacting. Stay still!" Samantha placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing the Yokai to lie down. Melissa saw the Healer take out her Sacred Gear and use her healing magic on the more important points. Feeling the soothing energies repairing her torn flesh, Melissa looked over to the yellow glowing Templar holding up the mountain of rubble. Vargas also summoned his White Stag that created a white barrier around the Dwarf children. Her shadow barrier gave them enough time to react to the cave in.

"Is she alright?" Vargas walked over and kneeled, looking worse for wear but still kicking. Samantha didn't respond and continued working on her injuries. "What happened? Did Talien get Sigurd?"

"No." Melissa said sitting up, her wounds not bleeding as much as before (not that Samantha approved of her moving just yet). "It's something worse…Far worse." They were both confused at her words but Melissa was too busy trying to keep track of that massive aura. Not like that was difficult. Kind of hard to miss a mountain when it was right next to you. The aura was walking over the rubble, making its way somewhere at a brisk pace. "We need to move."

"Where?" Vargas asked and Melissa stood up, looking at the kids.

"You guys need to take them out of here; they'll be in danger if they stay. I'll try to find the others, that attack must have destroyed the protection spells on this place because I can feel the shadows in here much easier now." Samantha and Vargas looked at each other before agreeing.

"We'll try to find Maven once we get outside, be careful in here." Samantha said to Melissa before walking over to the kids with Vargas. The White Stag's light pushed aside the rubble and created a path leading up. Giving one last nod to her friends, she sank into her shadow and slowly made her way to the aura.

She had lied to her teammates. The reason she wanted them to get the kids out was mainly so they could be far away here. She recognized the aura. It was a long time ago that she felt it but the memory was unforgettable. If it was really who she thought it was then they needed to leave. Immediately. Melissa slowly made her way to the aura but halted when it abruptly stopped. It looked in multiple directions, trying to find something and Melissa sweated bullets when it gazed in her direction before looking away. It continued its trek and Melissa followed it to a partly destroyed section of the former cave.

"…Well you look like Hell." The aura spoke, walking towards the bloody form of Talien resting against a boulder.

"You could have killed me." The Elf King said in spite but got a shrug in response.

"You're alive aren't you?" Talien went silent at that. Using the chance when the aura seemed to be focused on the Elf King, Melissa came close enough to get a clear view. It took everything Melissa had not to bolt in the opposite direction (that probably would have alerted them to her position anyway). It was him. One of the Three Great Yokai of Japan, the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven, the Oni.

'Shuten Douji…' Melissa remembered seeing him as a child. It was for a couple of seconds but that moment stayed with her for a long time. He hadn't changed. Even as a child, Melissa knew how powerful the Great Yokai was and other Yokai's that had the title "Great" were nothing next to the Oni.

It was time to go. They couldn't fight the Oni, not at their level. They wouldn't stand a chance. Melissa gingerly took a step back, trying to make her already soundless steps quieter and made to turn around. Just as she was half way turned and about to sink further into the shadows, a portal appeared in front of the two Generals. Melissa felt her throat go dry when she saw Pierce and Brynhildr walk out of the portal. Then her heart dropped when Shuten turned to look at them; they didn't realize because they were too shocked at the current destruction.

"Pierce!" Her fear of getting caught by the Oni being overcome from fear of her boyfriend's safety, Melissa tried to warn him of the current danger. He reacted, looking at her in confusion before turning around at Shuten's words. Then he moved and all Melissa saw was Pierce flying back, smashing through a large wall of rubble. "NO!" Melissa screamed when she saw the large amount of blood that came out his chest.

"_**Aflæ Hræzla!" **_Brynhildr immediately reacted, sending a number of magic blasts at the Oni. He didn't bother dodging as the blasts hit him dead on and did absolutely nothing. The Chief Valkyrie, who was shocked as those blasts could have eroded steel, hurriedly put up a large magic circle that covered her body. Shuten's fist smashed through like it was tissue paper and connected with the right side of Brynhildr's face. She was sent flying to the side and the Oni moved in front of Melissa's path.

"I was wondering when you would come out, you Shadow cats are always hard to bring out." Shuten smiled down at the Shadow Yokai.

"Move!" Melissa yelled, wanting nothing more than to check on Pierce and in her rush attacked the Great Yokai with her daggers. The Oni for his part dodged her slashes with ease and caught her foot that was aimed at his head. "Aaaahhhh!" Shuten showed no mercy as he squeezed and crushed her leg, slamming his fist into her gut. Melissa spit out blood, and was sent flying to the ground and struggled to stay conscious. Her vision became increasingly blurry, only seeing the tall purple form of the Oni walking closer. A pair of magic chains wrapped around his chest from behind. He turned around to see Brynhildr was the caster, the side of her face quite bloody.

"Chains? Not the best choice." Shuten grabbed the chains and pulled Brynhildr towards him, his fist aiming for her face. The Chief Valkyrie let go of the chain however and flipped over Shuten, swinging her claymore at his neck. He caught the blade with one hand and Brynhildr let that go as well, stabbing a dagger into his gut. Her shock when the dagger barely pierced his flesh couldn't be put into words. "That's a nice knife you got there, quite sharp." Shuten idly praised the craftsmanship as it wasn't currently stabbing into his gut. He head butted the Chief Valkyrie, making her see stars and her back met the ground.

Shuten pulled out the dagger and observed it, his flesh wound healing within seconds. He pocketed the dagger and watched as Melissa shakily stood up. Despite her less than ideal state, the ferocity in her eyes didn't fade and Shuten smiled at that. He waited for her as she covered her daggers with shadows and rushed at him. The slash was weak, Shuten easily catching it but being a warrior; he respected the attempt and lifted his fist to give her a swift death.

'I'm sorry…' Melissa watched as the fist got closer to her face, closing her eyes as she felt the amount of Chi that was contained in it would easily kill her. She didn't really know what she felt sorry for. Maybe it was never telling her parents that she went on this mission? Maybe it was never getting to live to see her siblings again? Maybe…Melissa smiled when she thought of Pierce's goofy smile. She hoped that he's somehow alive and will find a way out of this. She really did (for this to be her last thoughts really put things into perspective). I guess it was true what people said; Love is mad.

Then a blur charged at Shuten from the side, a foot covered in a silver aura slamming right into the Oni's face.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

My attack created a shockwave that pushed away the rubble and left numerous cracks on the ground. I landed next to Melissa who looked shocked and horrified at my arrival. I didn't blame her. I probably looked like, and I felt like, absolute crap. There was a bloody hole on my chest that made breathing hard, my already low Chi reserves dwindled from activating Touki at the last minute and my vision was blurring. I watched the Oni and how his head was leaning back from my kick, on his face was a look of mild shock while staring at me.

"You're still alive?" He said, sounding completely genuine. My attack didn't even seem to faze him. I didn't react and slashed at the arm holding Melissa with Tyrfing, forcing him to let go. I held on to her and Chi Burst back, placing her behind me.

"Are you okay?" I asked Melissa, my eyes never leaving the Oni. She didn't react and I glanced back, seeing the glazed over look on her face.

"I-I thought-I mean, your aura it…" Melissa couldn't get her words together but I knew what she meant. I blacked out at the Oni's attack, my dip in Chi making it seemed like it was snuffed out and I died. It must have been a bad scare for her. I felt her grab my ankle weakly when I stepped forward. "No, don't. You won't win, we need to leave. Please." Melissa pleaded.

'I don't think he's going to give us that chance…' I thought as the Oni got over his little moment of surprise, now slowly making his way towards us. I only saw one way we were getting out of this. "I'll distract him as long as I can, try to find the others in that time." Correction, only one way Melissa was getting out of this.

"What!? No! Sto-" I pulled my leg from her grip and charged at the Oni, slashing at him. He dodged every swing, sending a fist at my face and I barely leaned out of the way. My cheek was cut from the speed it grazed me.

"Oh!" The Oni exclaimed in surprise, not expecting me to dodge and I cut his leg. The Demon Sword met resistance and left a minor cut on the Oni's skin. I internally cursed when it was already in the process of healing. Every swing was parried by the Oni's Chi covered forearms from then on and he slapped Tyrfing out of my hand. I crossed my arms in time to stop the Oni's knee from hitting my chest. A loud bang rang out, my arms buckling under the attack and my back hitting rubble once more. I didn't need to look down to see my arms were bent out of their correct shape. The blur in my vision started to get worse.

"_**Solis Beckoning Scriptor!" **_Adrian's voice echoed out, multiple rays of sunlight hitting the Oni's back. He stumbled forward before catching himself and looked back with an amused smile. The Emissary, clad in his sunlight aura, flew at the Oni and tried to cut at his neck but he disappeared. "Wha-" The Oni appeared under Adrian and punched his stomach, making him puke blood. The Emissaries' armor cracked under the weight and the Oni grabbed him by the ankle, slamming him against the ground before kicking him away. Adrian struggled to stand, the Oni shaking his head at the effort and moved towards him.

Ignoring my immense pain, I used Chi to reset my arms and hugged the waist of the Oni. I held on to stop him from moving and yelled at Adrian.

"Go! Take her and run!" I gritted my teeth as the Oni took another step forward. Adrian looked at me in shock.

"Wha-No! No, I'm not-"

"Adrian! For the love of fucking everything, take her and get the hell out of here! Please!" Using my entire remaining Chi, I coated the Oni and me in a dense Touki. The Oni stopped moving for a second and I thought I had him.

Then a purple elbow came in my view. Taking the greatest hit I've ever received since reincarnating (and before), all feeling below my neck came to a halt and a hand reached out to grab it. I was lifted to the Oni's face and he smiled.

"How noble, few men can form the resolve to sacrifice themselves for their companions. I applaud you." The Oni's words barely registered, my hazy vision traveling over to where Adrian and Melissa were. I weakly smiled when they weren't there. "Your tenacity would have brought you far if you didn't meet me. Any last words?" I gave the Oni my blankest stare and said two, probably final, words.

"…Fuck…You."

The Oni smiled widely at that, funnily enough.

"Indeed." Then he started to squeeze. Just as I expected to meet eternal darkness, the back of my head met the ground and I was left gazing at the night sky.

'What?' I looked around; trying to see what was going on and saw the Oni looking up. I followed his gaze (struggling because of my position) and saw a rainbow colored portal had appeared in the air, two men walking out of it. They both wore a mix of robes and armor. One of the men had golden eyes and a full beard while the other amber eyes and a dignified face. My view was cut off by Brynhildr's face and she picked me up, hastily flying away. Her haste wasn't necessary however because the Oni never paid us any attention, focusing solely on the two new arrivals. She landed on a ledge overlooking the three, putting magic circles over my body with one hand and forming a spell under us with another. I recognized it as a teleportation spell.

"My, my you Norse sure know how to give a warm welcome. A God of Vengeance and a God of Kings for little old me? You're going to make me blush." The Oni smiled up at the Norse Gods in excitement and Freyr frowned.

"You will leave these lands now foul creature."

"Will I? Then how about you come down here and make me."

"Gladly." Vidar spoke as divine aura wrapped around his feet with Freyr doing the same for his sword. The Oni just smiled as the Gods charged at him and met both attacks with his Chi coated hands.

All I saw before teleporting away with Brynhildr was a massive explosion of energy and soon, I blacked out.

* * *

**2 Hours Later, Top of Olympus**

Within the majestic walls of the Greek God's domain, said deities were currently assembled in a room full of thrones. There was complete silence as Zeus, Aphrodite, Hera, Hestia, Hermes, and Ares waited for the others. They didn't wait for too long as the doors to the throne room opened and Athena walked in. Her hair was a little wet and she was dressed in a sleeping gown. The Goddess of War and Wisdom was planning to go to bed after taking a hot bath but certain news made her throw those plans out the window. Athena's beautiful face was ruined by her scowl.

"What happened?" It was two short words but the bite in them wasn't small. She looked in the direction of Hermes, his face pointed down for some reason. "Well?" Athena said after not getting a response.

"Everything will be explained when the others are around, sit down until then." Zeus said and Athena instantly responded.

"But-"

"Sit. Down." Zeus commanded, letting a bit of his divine aura seep into his voice. While Athena didn't flinch at the God King's tone, she did relent and took a seat on her throne. Aphrodite reached out and gave her sister a comforting squeeze on the arm. Apollon, Artemis, Poseidon, and Hephaestus eventually arrived, taking their respective seats. Seeing everyone was here, Zeus turned to look at Hermes. "Go ahead."

"My scouts reported that while the Emissaries were attacking the two Generals, the Dark Elf King Talien and the Werewolf Lord Ferox, two more Generals arrived to take them out. The Thunder Dragon King Druk and the Great Yokai Shuten Douji. While Poseidon's Emissary was able to escape before being attacked by the Dragon King, Apollon's Emissary wasn't as fortunate."

"…And can you explain why?" Athena asked when he didn't continue. The Goddess really wanted to know why the Homer team was alerted in time and escaped without a scratch while Adrian's team had to survive by the skin of their teeth.

"The scouts watching Druk were able to alert me in time that he opened a Dragon Gate to somewhere in the general vicinity of Poseidon's Emissary."

"And the scouts watching Shuten?"

"…They're dead." Athena widened her eyes at that. "It seems he got tired of being watched by my scouts so he dealt with them before leaving for your Emissary. I only became aware when they didn't check in an hour later."

"…Oh." Athena started to feel guilty. Every scout picked by Hermes were the ones he has personally trained and lived with, he cared a great deal about them. "I'm sorry." Hermes took the apology with a small nod and asked if he could be excused, Zeus granting the request. They watched the somber messenger of the Gods leave the throne room and Hera sighed.

"We should have known Zeth wouldn't have let this keep going, he was bound to have a plan for the Emissaries once his Generals returned. We got complacent."

"But what could we have done? They knew the risk when facing the Generals and it's not like we sent them after those two, they just arrived." Apollon reasoned while fiddling with his harp and got a round of agreements. Athena still felt they could have done something, even if there was really nothing to stop the two Generals from attacking the Emissaries. The Olympians knew the Emissaries weren't ready to face Zeth's top Generals which is why they tasked them with going after the relatively weaker ones' first. Rome wasn't built in a day like they say (and they of all beings should know). While Froid and Shiruku didn't seem like real threats to Olympus by themselves, there have been plenty of cases where a group of weaker beings banded together to defeat a far stronger opponent. The Olympians against the Monster King Typhon was such an example. Typhon could flatten any of the Olympians if they fought him alone but banding together, they were able to defeat the Monster King.

And with beings like Shuten and Druk behind him, Zeth was a very real threat to Olympus.

"But all things considered, I think this was quite the victory." Ares' words resounded across the room and got a round of frowns.

"And how is this a victory?" Artemis asked and Ares raised a brow at the question.

"Isn't it obvious? Zeth's now down three Generals and if the report from the Norse is to be believed, four in total. Technically." From what the Chief Valkyrie of the Norse said, Talien was a wreck by the time everything was done. His magic aura was pitiful and the constant usage of a Forbidden spell that allowed him to create undead warriors shot his life force, making it a fraction of what it originally was. He wasn't much of a threat anymore. "Not to mention that our Emissaries are still alive and kicking."

"Barely." Apollon added and Ares snorted.

"Whatever. Poseidon's team is still okay and your team will be returned shortly to continue their job."

"Why, I can feel the gratitude just oozing out of you Ares." Aphrodite made a snide at the God of War but he just shrugged.

"It's not like we aren't paying them their due rewards for their work."

"But at least show a little appreciation, they are fighting a group of Ultimate-Class beings to keep our home safe." Athena said in slight anger and Ares laughed.

"Appreciation? Is that what you're calling the time you spend with the little human? I wonder if you plan to show your appreciation for him in bed at this rate."

"Why you little shi-"

"Enough." Zeus spoke once more and the room was immediately filled with the faint sound of crackling lightning. Both War deities halted at that and the God King of Olympus turned to look at Ares. "The Emissaries are our swords and shields, they accepted fighting Zeth so that Olympus may continue. They've spilled blood and earned their place on this mountain; you will give them proper respect. Is that understood?"

"…Yes father." Ares bowed to Zeus and apologized for his words.

The whiplash sound effect done by Aphrodite got a round of chuckles and a glare from the God of War. The meeting soon finished, with plans to have the Emissaries rest up from the recent assault and find better ways to attack the Generals without worry of a far stronger opponent arriving. That last one was going to be difficult (even for the Goddess of Wisdom). Athena exited the throne room, making her way to her room with a heavy look on her face. Aphrodite caught up with the Goddess and tapped her shoulder.

"You okay? Ares usually doesn't get under your skin that easily." The Goddess of Beauty was worried at Athena's uncharacteristic response to Ares' words and she sighed.

"I'm not friendly with Pierce just because he's fighting the Generals…" Athena said in a low tone and Aphrodite quirked a brow.

"Athena, no one thinks you are and I'm damn sure he doesn't either. Ares was just being a dick."

"…Do you really think so?"

"I know he doesn't, so let's not worry about what Ares thinks and talk about something else." Aphrodite offered and her face turned serious. "How are they doing?"

"Intact, for the most part." Athena sighed and sat down on a bench. "Adrian reported back to me when he was patched up and said the rest of his team survived Shuten's attack. Apparently, most of them were far away from the Oni when he arrived."

"Most?" Aphrodite frowned at the word and Athena clenched her fist.

"Pierce faced the Oni and took the majority of the assault."

The news made the Goddess of Beauty's eyes widened. She wasn't a bookworm like Athena and didn't have in depth knowledge of every faction in the world. She knew the bare basics and everything was on things that she found interesting or essential but even she had heard of the Three Great Yokai of Japan. Immensely powerful Ultimate-Class beings that had rivaled Gods in the past and Shuten Douji was the most well known among the three. If Pierce faced him head on then…

Nothing that came to Aphrodite's mind was remotely encouraging. Seeing her imagination working against her, Aphrodite looked back at Athena and asked if he was still alive. She sighed in relief when the Goddess of Wisdom said "yes".

"Then all we can do is wait."

"…I know." But she was tired of waiting. She hated this situation, not being able to fight her own battles and face Zeth. Athena was never the passive type and often solved her problems herself, rarely relying on mortal warriors to fix her problem (contrary to how many said they did in the earlier years). Granted, while the Emissaries have proven to be an excellent decision, the odds they could truly bring down Zeth was slim. They've slowly gotten stronger as they faced more enemies but as it showed, one encounter with the Great Yokai and everything was nearly over.

'I just had to become friends with the help, didn't I?' Athena didn't honestly think of them as the "help" but the plan was always to keep a professional relationship with the Emissaries. They were hired soldiers and the chances of them dying were so high that the Olympians unanimously agreed that it was better not to get attached. It was cold but it was the reality of things. But then Pierce became her friend and pupil and suddenly that plan was nowhere to be seen. Athena stared out a window to the Greek World below, wondering how it would have been if she had just walked away when Pierce was complaining in that side garden that day.

To the thousand year old Goddess of Wisdom, nothing came to mind.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

The moment I opened my eyes, I knew that it had been longer than a couple of hours since I fell unconscious. The sunlight coming from a window on the ceiling was more glaring than usual and the kinks in my body were deep. Sending Chi through my stiff body, I gave a groan of contentment as I stretched and loud popping sounds came from my joints.

'…How the hell am I still alive?' Not the most cheerful thing to think of when waking up but my surprise was warranted. I was happy to be alive no question, it's just having all feeling below your neck stop for a solid minute and nearly choked to death by an Oni makes you kind of melodramatic. 'At least I didn't reincarnate again, going through childhood twice is two times too many.' I thought idly and started to scan my environment. I was in a large room with white walls, cabinets full of vials, a desk, and multiple other beds. The bed frames had Nordic symbols on them with glowing runes. I looked down and saw my bed had the same runes, I felt they were feeding me energy, mostly to heal the wounds I had. A white blanket covered half of my body.

Oh yeah, I was also completely naked. I saw a pair of robes and my space ring lying on a table next to the bed. 'Thank Ichiei for small blessings.' I may have thanked him too soon however because a woman walked into the room just as I was about to pick up the robes. She was a beautiful middle aged woman with light blond hair, blue eyes and light green robes on. She had a rose headdress on and blinked at my figure reaching for the clothes.

"You're up? That's surprising; I didn't expect you to be awake until-" The woman was interrupted by a blur passing her and heading right for me. Melissa tackled me, nearly forcing me to fall back into the bed. Maven walked in right after, a small smile appearing on her face upon seeing me.

"You're awake…" The mage slowly made her way over and hugged my head in her bosom, holding on quite tight. I frowned when I felt Melissa slightly shaking. I wrapped two arms around both of them and held them closer, trying to give them some sort of comfort. We stayed like that for a couple of minutes before a cough from the woman caught our attention.

"I don't want to ruin your reunion but I should finish my check up before you guys do anything else." The woman reasoned and they reluctantly agreed, separating from me (though Melissa chose to sit real close).

"Um, hi I'm Pierce."

"Nice to meet you Pierce, my name is Eir." We shook hands and she got out a small wand. She waved it over me, a couple types, multiple magic circles appearing over my body. "No fractures or torn ligaments. Your breathing is stable now and no permanent nerve damage. Try to stand up." I gawked at the command and at her inquisitive look, I made the problem clear.

"I'm naked." All she did was tilt her head.

"There's a robe right there, just put it on."

"…" I waited for them to turn around but they made no move to do so. Getting out of bed, I ignored the stares of the three beautiful women in the room and put on the robe. Eir and Melissa were unfazed but Maven's face was beet red. 'Now that's your fault.'

"Is there any problem in terms of mobility?" Eir asked and I ran to the opposite end of the room. I made it there in a second and appeared in my original spot in the same time. I formed a fist and punched the air, causing a small wind to pick up. I did this several times and stopped when Eir raised her hand. "Interesting, you recovered quite fast. Many of my Einherjars would need weeks to recover from the state you were in. A partly snapped neck is no joke, even with my skills."

My eyes widened at her words, my hand unconsciously reaching up to rub my neck. Eir said she needed to check on her other patients and exited the room, leaving the three of us alone. I walked up to Melissa and sighed at the small tear stains on her face. I rubbed my thumb over the stains and grabbed her hand, squeezing it slightly.

"Melissa." She lifted her head to look at me. "It's okay, I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere. It'll take a lot more than a purple demon reject to put me down so cheer up, okay? Because I got to be honest… if anything is going to kill me it's trying to keep up with your eating habits. Now that's a godly feat." Melissa gave me a blank stare before lightly kicking my shin.

"You're an ass…" She grumbled and I smirked.

"But it distracted you didn't it?" Her response was the same as before. After making sure she was feeling better, I picked up my space ring and took out my regular set of clothes (I sighed in relief once I saw both Dáinsleif and Tyrfing inside). I asked them how long I was out for and stopped midway putting on my green shirt when they said two days. 'I guess that explains why I'm hungry as hell.' I finished putting on my clothes and asked where everyone else was.

"They're in the main hall." Maven answered but I was confused on what that meant (Olympus had many halls). "You're going to like this." The mage smirked and walked to a side door, gesturing for me to open it. While I was a little lost, I did what she wanted and opened the door. I saw that the house was resting on an open prairie, a river flowing next to it and massive stone walls that were hundreds of meters in height on the other side. A tree that looked bigger than any skyscraper I remembered and reached the clouds rested far in the distance (the rainbow flying over it helped paint a very pretty picture). I admired the beautiful view before taking a wild guess.

"Is…is this Asgard?" My grin couldn't get wider when they nodded. "Okay, I've been to Hell and two different kinds of Heaven. That's got to be a record somewhere right!?" They chuckled at my words and I looked around, seeing many people working on the prairie. The majority of them looked like farmers but some had robes and staffs. "Who are they?"

"Those are the worshippers Frigg has allowed into Fensalir. They work the fields and learn her Seiðr arts." Maven answered and tilted her head at the stone walls. "Come on; let's go meet the others." We walked to a carriage resting next to the house, a man with brown hair and a beard was holding the reins. He gave a short nod of acknowledgment as we entered the carriage and commanded the horses to move. We crossed the prairie, coming close to the river and the regular looking horses started to glow in a rainbow aura. The carriage started to float up, flying over the river and reaching the top of the stone walls.

"Wow." A massive city rested within the stone walls. I could see many houses, ranging from stone towers to long wooden homes, and brick roads leading all over the city. People walked along the road and soldiers were positioned in groups around the towers, some patrolling on top of the walls. The carriage we were on made straight for a large hall in the middle of the city. We came to a gentle landing in front of the hall and Maven tossed a gold coin at the driver. We walked up the steps leading to the entrance and met two Einherjars standing guard. They must have known Maven and Melissa already because they didn't say anything and opened the gate. Giving quick thanks, they led me into the hall and I admired the beautiful architecture.

It wasn't like Olympus's architecture with their pearly white pillars, marble floors and nature engravings on the walls. No, there was mainly an odd assortment of swords, shields and animal pelts hanging on the wooden walls. The wood felt far denser than any natural bark and the magic runes hidden within were uncountable. We passed many statues that depicted either great battles or fallen warriors (the one that looked like Sigurd made me stop and stare for a long second). We eventually reached a pair of large double doors with golden runes and Maven waved her hand, a gust of wind opening them. A hall that was larger than a football field with golden pillars holding up the roof appeared in my vision. Countless numbers of Einherjar were partying inside; they were drinking, eating, dancing, and/or wrestling. It was an interesting sight.

"Hey Pierce!" Brynhildr walked out from among the crowd and walked up to us. She stopped in front of me before looking me up and down. "You're still among the living huh? From what Eir told me she didn't like the odds. Talk about not staying down."

"…It's nice to see you too Brynhildr." I deadpanned and she chuckled.

"Likewise. Welcome to Valhalla." Brynhildr said and led us into the crowd. We met up with the rest of the team who were eating at a table and they congratulated me on a swift recovery (though I wouldn't call three days "swift"). Getting a bear hug from Vargas and a pat on the back from Adrian, I sat down to enjoy the feast. The food of Valhalla was incredible, having dishes from every corner of the world and there didn't seem to be a limit. Every plate I consumed was refilled by the time I picked up another one. Gunhild also came to join us in the party, bringing barrels of Asgardian ale. Vargas and Aindrea soon got into a drinking game, trying to see who can drink more before passing out. The Chief Valkyrie joined the game and beat both the Holy Sword user and Demigod with only a tipsy face to show for it.

"You want to give it a go?" I asked Melissa, who was staring at the victorious Valkyrie.

"H-Huh? N-No, no I'm not really into that sort of thing. I'm good." Melissa said in an unconvincing tone. I frowned.

"Melissa, if you want to have fun then I'm not going to stop you. Don't worry; I'll be right here when you get back." She looked at my sincere smile before giving a small smile back. She visibly relaxed before squeezing my hand and joining the drinking game. I stared at her as she grabbed a cup and filled it up to challenge the Chief Valkyrie, who seemed more than willing. I peeked over to see Maven eating some spaghetti while talking to Samantha. Now was as good a time as any. "Hey, Adrian can we talk?"

"Sure, what about?" The Emissary asked as he put down a half eaten chicken leg and became confused when I stood up. He followed me to a table just a little away from the others and I turned to Adrian with a serious face.

"Who was that?" I wasn't specific but Adrian understood all the same, his face turning serious as well. I didn't want to ask either of the girls because of how shaken up they were over my near death, especially Melissa. Not only because she had a front row seat of it happening, but because she seemed to know who that Oni was.

And I'm going to assume by her fear that it wasn't a pleasant memory. I waited for Adrian to gather his thoughts before speaking.

"That Oni's name is Shuten Douji. He's a Great Yokai and one of Zeth's strongest Generals, his right hand man in fact." Adrian started to explain what happened in the fight three days ago. After Shuten arrived and blew the cave to smithereens, the Valkyries helping Maven fight Thorbjǫrg immediately called in back up. They couldn't alert Brynhildr of this because she was still in the tomb so we were essentially caught with our pants down once we came out. Once Shuten was focused on me, Gunhild grabbed Adrian and Melissa before teleporting away. "Then Lord Freyr and Lord Vidar arrived to fight Shuten and…well you probably remember the rest."

"…and Shuten?"

"He's still alive." Adrian answered. "He fought off both Gods before escaping with Talien. He barely got injured." Freyr and Vidar also came out of the fight unscathed but that did little to comfort me. I knew monsters existed in this world and wasn't talking about the "regular monsters" that could scare average men. I meant absolute beasts that made no sense to the established norm and could do things that those of the same race couldn't. A mild case would be myself while the more extreme would be Devils like Sirzechs and Ajuka. I knew I would eventually meet an absolute beast that would give me a run for my money.

I just wish I could have at least made him sweat for _his_. We walked back to the table after talking about Shuten, Melissa still standing strong against Brynhildr. The rest of evening was spent eating, drinking and relaxing after waking up. By the end of it, I had to take an unconscious Melissa to our current lodgings and laid her down on a Norse style bed. The Shadow Yokai's face was a bright red, a lopsided smile on her beautiful face and I covered her with the sheets. I was going to go into Zen Mode before sleeping but Melissa's hand reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Pierce?" Melissa spoke to me but her eyes were half lidded, showing she wasn't all there. "Where are you going?"

"I was going to mediate for a bit-"

"No." She gripped my arm tighter and pulled me closer. "Don't. Don't leave me again." My eyes widened a bit at her words before they softened.

"Okay, I won't. I'm right here." I entered the sheets with Melissa and she rested her head on my chest. I could feel her breathing become softer until she fell asleep and I was left staring at the ceiling. In the silence of the room, my mind went back to fight against Shuten and I frowned.

I was upset but not at the reasons you'd expect. Shuten took me apart. My Chi, my Magic, my Demon Swords, all my experience I've gained from fighting the generals and from Athena's teachings meant jack to the Oni. I knew that even if I was at peak performance and threw everything I had at the Oni, the outcome would still be the same. It was frustrating and yet…I didn't care about that. There were plenty of beings stronger than me in this world, some so strong that I may never be able to match but I was fine with that. I didn't aspire to be the strongest in the world and was perfectly content becoming strong enough to live a full life (plenty of people have gained that without becoming the strongest). But what my mind went to was that even with all my strength, the best I could do was make time for my friends to escape.

And the thought that the Oni could kill me and still catch up to the others with his insane speed really upset me.

'I need to get stronger.' That single line echoed in my mind and I stared down at Melissa's sleeping form. I wouldn't let something like Shuten happen again and if it did...then I was going to make sure I took that Oni down with me. '…Oh good God, I just took a page out of being a Shonen Protagonist didn't I?' (Then again, a regular Shonen Protagonist doesn't think about dying with their opponent).

Choosing to not think about bad clichés, I closed my eyes and let sleep come over me.

* * *

**1 Day Later, Throne Room**

The morning after was relatively peaceful. Melissa and I woke up at the crack of dawn, the Shadow Yokai having a minor headache. The same could not be said for Vargas and Aindrea. They were fully hung over and had splitting migraines, Melissa apparently learned a Chi Art that allows her body to naturally expel alcohol far better than other beings (even the supernatural kind). Brynhildr came by and cast a spell over them to help with their hangovers before telling us we were summoned. We soon found ourselves following the Chief Valkyrie through the halls of Valhalla again and reached a large throne room. Four beings were waiting for us in said room.

One was a short, beautiful woman with golden blond hair done in long braids and yellow pupils. Another was a beautiful maid with brown hair standing next to her. My eyes widened slightly at the very recognizable old man sitting on the throne. He had long grey hair, a beard with a golden monocle on his eye and an expensive robe. Surprised to be meeting the oppai loving All Father himself, I moved my gaze from Odin to observe the last being in the room.

"Welcome mighty warriors, I am glad you could join us today. We wish to thank you for protecting our lands from Zeth's Generals and helping keep our Valkyries safe." I stared at the severed head as it explained why we were her-

'…' Taking a minute to think that sentence over again, I rubbed my eyes and squinted at the head speaking on the podium. It was even weirder a second time. "You're a head." The head, who introduced himself as Mimir, stopped speaking at my words. He looked to Odin, who just shrugged in response.

"I am." He confirmed it like it was a trivial thing.

"…You're a severed head."

"Pierce…" Adrian groaned.

"What the hell do you mean "Pierce"!? A severed head is talking to us, I don't know about you but this is a first for me!" I exclaimed in rightful shock and Brynhildr scrunched her eyebrows.

"Don't you have talking Swords?"

'You got something you want to say?' Dáinsleif's voice came out from the space ring and I turned to Mimir.

"So what are you? An undead? Can you move on your own with Telekinesis or do you need someone to help you?...Do you still feel the urge to pee?" I started to fire off questions and Mimir narrowed his eyes at me.

"…No, I'm not an undead. I can move on my own and I don't have the need to relieve myself. I have no bladder."

"So if you have no bladder, then you have no lungs either. How do you talk?"

"Magic."

"…So if you fall in the water you won't drow-"

"Oh for the love of-" Adrian apparently had enough so he took out one of Sangan's sealing Talismans and slapped them over my mouth (I forgot he had these). "I am so incredibly sorry for this; he didn't mean anything by all those questions. He's just too curious for his own good." My muffled "hey" was ignored. Odin chuckled at our banter.

"It's quite alright my boy. He's not the first to be shocked by the eccentricity that is Mimir."

"My king!" Mimir had a betrayed look on his sole feature.

"But in all seriousness, we truly are grateful for your help in driving Talien from our lands and stopping him from disgracing Sigurd's Tomb. The Original Brynhildr deserved far more than she ever asked for in life and you've helped protect her last wish. So as a king and her friend, I thank you all." Odin stood up and bowed to us. While we were slightly shocked at the All Father's actions, we hurriedly bowed back. He said we could stay in Asgard for as long as we needed to but Adrian declined. They were just waiting for me to wake up before heading back to Olympus. "Very well, then I hope you have a safe journey back. Brynhildr can lead you all to Heimdall and he will open a gate."

"Thank you very much." Adrian bowed in thanks and we followed Brynhildr out of the throne room. The Chief Valkyrie led us to the tallest tower in Asgard and we walked up a spiral staircase to the top. A large room with a gate rested at the top, a short man with orange hair, a beard and brown eyes standing next to it.

"Greetings warriors of Olympus, Brynhildr. How may I be of service?" The man spoke and Brynhildr bowed.

"Hello Lord Heimdall, can you please open a gate to Olympus for them?"

"Very well." Heimdall touched the gate and it started to shine in every color. "I'll need permission from Olympus' side to open a gate there so this may take a minute." Everyone waited patiently as the Guardian God worked and I stared at him. A minute passed of this and he must have noticed because he turned to look at me. "Is there something wrong?"

"No nothing's wrong it's just…I pictured you differently." Heimdall frowned.

"How so?"

"You wouldn't happen to be a popular actor in Asgard, are you?" I asked but that just confused him more. "Do you make music or write books?"

"I-I don't."

"Okay, weird question but…are you half-British?"

"…Huh?" Heimdall was absolutely lost. Before I could continue, Adrian and Vargas pulled me back from the confused Guardian God.

"Don't make me pull out another Mute Talisman." The Emissary threatened and I crossed my arms in a huff.

"You guys are no fun…" My sulking got a couple of chuckles and a sigh from Adrian. Maven rubbed my head in comfort (it felt pretty nice) and the portal eventually opened. Heimdall said that we would appear in front of the Gate to Olympus and sat back down after that. We started to say our goodbyes to Brynhildr, Adrian shaking her hand and thanking her for the help.

"Same to you, It's been a pleasure to fight alongside all of you. That was the most fun I've had in a long while. I hope we meet again." Saying those final parting words, Brynhildr left to do her day job as the Chief Valkyrie (if her grumbling about paperwork was any indicator) and we stepped through the portal.

* * *

**Same Time, A Certain Monster God's Dimension**

In an artificial space the size of a state, an equally artificial sun hung low over the horizon. Many houses of different shapes and sizes littered this independent space. Some so small that a normal human would be bent out of shape if they tried to enter and some so large that a mortal castle would be best used to describe it. Yet within these houses, no humans could be seen. Creatures out of myths like Trolls, Giants, Harpies, Minotaurs, Lamias, and about every other being that have been labeled as "Monsters'' could be found in this realm. They walked and lived amongst each other, like how humans would in cities and towns. And within this Dimension of Monsters, a black castle housed what many called these Monster's "God".

Shuten Douji walked down the halls of this black castle, yawning before taking a swig of his gourd full of alcohol. He gave a small nod to the maids and soldiers walking along the halls, all bowing as he went by. The Oni eventually reached a large open door. Inside was a room that many would mistake for being a king's dwelling. High class furniture, marble floors, a high end chimney and an unreasonably large bed that Shuten noticed in amusement laid a number of naked, sleeping monster women. Shuten looked over to the open balcony and found the one he was looking for.

A man was leaning against the railing and staring out into the city. He was tall, had shoulder length brown hair, a handsome face and blue eyes. He didn't react as Shuten came to stand next to him and join him in staring out into the city. A moment of silence passed between the two before the Oni spoke.

"Don't you ever get tired of staring out at your Kingdom like this?" For as long as the Oni had known and joined the Monster God, he always seemed to be admiring his handiwork in silence. Every damn minute. To the Oni, it must have gotten stale at this point yet Zeth answered his question with his own.

"Do you ever get tired of basking in a victory?"

"...When the fight was boring as hell then yeah, a little." Shuten deadpanned.

"But you still relish it and this..." Zeth waved his hands at the city. "This is not a minor victory." The Oni blankly stared at Monster God before shrugging.

"Whatever you say, I just came to tell you that the Elf made it back to Svartalfheim."

"Well done. It's a shame he couldn't bring back Sigurd but there is work to do in Svartalfheim, he should be plenty busy there." Zeth praised the Oni's work and Shuten nodded before turning to leave, seeing his job was done. "Hey Shuten." He stopped and looked back at Zeth. "Those Emissaries you've faced...how were they?" The Oni thought on the question and gave his honest opinion.

"They were...interesting." Zeth quirked a brow at that but Shuten didn't continue and left the room, leaving the Monster God to think on the vague answer. Walking down the hallway to the main entrance of the castle, the Oni drank some more alcohol and his mind started to think back to the fight with the humans of Olympus. They were nothing special really, they had nothing that could draw the Oni's attention or warrant Zeth's worry. He thought of the look that one human gave him and memories of past battles went through the Oni's mind.

Of the fights against the monks in _that_ temple, against the invaders, against that pointy eared fallen, or against that lightning wielding Emissary. "Mighty Warriors," the lot of them yet, whenever Shuten was done with them there was nothing but fear left in their eyes. He hated that look. Whenever he thought of them, a frown came on his face and he wanted to spit in their memory (though if he ever met that fallen again, he'd finish the job). Then a crooked smile appeared on the Oni's face. That boy, who's disjointed neck was in his hands, whose literal life was at this whim, didn't so much as flinch at his death. Instead, he glared at Oni and cursed his very existence without hesitation. Shuten's smile threatened to split his face.

'Very interesting indeed...' The Oni made his way out of the castle and opened a gate to his realm, wondering if he'll meet that human again before walking inside.

* * *

**Olympus, The Elysian Fields**

"So...what are we doing here?" I asked as I walked with Athena, Maven and Melissa through the fields of the Greek Afterlife. The two other members of the party looked to the Goddess, wondering the same thing.

"You'll find out in a second." Athena gave nothing away and we came to a large cabin on top of a hill. The others were waiting by the cabin when we got there and I idly noted that another one of Adrian's Patrons, the sun God Apollon, was also here. Apollon walked up the steps of the cabin and cleared his throat. "Since everyone's here, I think it's time to explain why you're all here."

"That'd be nice." I said and Apollon smiled.

"Well first things first, this will be your new lodgings." He pointed at the cabin behind us. "That's not to say you aren't allowed back on top of Olympus, your rooms up there are still yours and you can go back whenever you want but this cabin will be more practical for what we have planned."

"And what is this plan, Lord Apollon?" Adrian asked.

"For the next couple of months, you all will train in the Elysian Fields." Athena answered and stood next to Apollon. "The encounters with Zeth's Top General showed us something; you all are very impressive but it won't be enough against the strongest you'll eventually meet. Some of that stems from our own negligence. We've been...half assing it so to speak when it came to you all. We have plenty of ways to help you grow in strength but haven't been capitalizing on it because of how well you've been doing against the Generals. Let's change that." We looked at each other at the Goddess' words and Aindrea stepped forward.

"In what ways can you help us grow stronger?"

"For one, the Elysian Fields are full of past warriors that have made a name for themselves when they were alive. They have many techniques and methods to improve combat and will readily help you. You may also face some wild Familiars in Olympus's Familiar Forest, there are always some that go out of control and need to be put down, besides Demeter would appreciate the help. Other than that, we will also be personally training you. I can help you with manipulating your Sunlight powers and I've had past experience with Holy Swords." Apollon started to list all the ways we would be spending our time in the Elysian Fields and we were all pretty on board. After that shit show with Shuten, I was more than ready to get back into some old fashioned training (this is actually the first time I've trained for a long period of time since fighting the Tyrant). Apollon led everyone into the cabin to look around and I would have followed if Athena didn't stop me.

"What's up?" I asked the Goddess as she observed me with a critical eye. "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, it's just...are you okay?" I frowned at the worried tone she had.

"I'm fine."

"Really?"

"Really." I sighed at the skeptical look she gave me. "Is this about my injuries?"

"I mean, yeah. You almost died Pierce. Even Eir didn't like your chances and she's a Valkyrie known for her healing abilities. You're not affected at all?" Athena gave me another worried look and I rubbed the back of my neck.

"I don't know Athena. I didn't feel fear when I woke up if that's what you're asking but I'm frustrated." I knew it wasn't normal to shrug off a near death like it was nothing but that's how I felt. I've kind always been like that. Is it because I already died once? or maybe it was because I've accepted I may die at any point in this quest. The lack of care at my own well being was probably some mental problem but that's an issue for another day. "I couldn't do anything against Shuten. If he truly wanted to, he could have killed us and we wouldn't have been able to see it coming...That's not a fun thought."

"..." Athena said nothing as she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me in for a gentle hug. I blinked at the Goddess' show of compassion before returning the hug. I didn't need comforting but it'd be a dick move to refuse it when she genuinely cared. We stayed like that for a long minute before Athena let go and stared into my eyes. "Don't worry Pierce, once we're done with this plan, you won't have to feel like that again. I promise."

"...Then let's do it." I smiled and walked to the cabin, ready to start this training session. I didn't find out until much later that Apollon and Athena planned to stay in the cabin with us to make the training more proficient. I was going to be bunking with a super hot Goddess and my equally beautiful girlfriends for the next couple of months.

...Eat your heart out Issei Hyoudou and eat it well.

* * *

And done. Pierce survives a close shave with a monstrous Oni and does what he always does; get up and keep on moving. Time waits for no man and neither will a Monster God. I hope you enjoyed it!

Author's Note: So there's something I need to clear up since so many people seem to have a problem with it. Whenever Pierce thinks about the future and how his actions may affect it, he's just naturally being curious. He actually likes the main characters (Rias, Issei, Akeno, Yuuto, etc.) so whenever he does something that may affect them negatively, yeah he'll feel a little guilty but he won't trip over himself to fix it. He very much understands this is his life but if you change history like making sure the Holocaust didn't happen or that Julius Caesar never died, the first thing that will pop into your mind would be "oh shit, what's going to happen to the future now?" It's a normal human thought so I don't know why people have such a big problem with it. And it's not going to stop so…yeah, there's your heads up.

* * *

_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	33. Chapter 32

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Zentari2238**: Longevity is a paltry trick but there hasn't been a lot of canon ways shown where a human can stay a human without converting to another race. If push came to shove, Pierce wouldn't care and become a Devil to gain a long life but he'll try to stay human just to keep his sense of origin and freedom. As for the afterlife part, Cleria is literally the only Supernatural being (besides Gods) that resides in an Afterlife. Even then, that could have just been her spirit preserved by the Angels to atone to Masaomi for his unjust death. My point is, she's one example and properly an incredibly rare exception. I'm going to stick with my theory (and you're going to tell me an entire race can live for ten thousand years and still go to the afterlife like humans can? I don't buy it).

**Ferocious Nightfury:** I don't make lemons because of the guidelines and because I'm not very good at making them. I tried and no matter how much I fixed them, they just came out awful so I don't bother. I'll try to make love between him and his future harem believable but that's the best I can offer, sorry.

**PegasiJake**: Oh don't worry, if I ever do make another story where Pierce is in modern times, he'll be so powerful it'll be ridiculous. I personally _loathe_ the stories where the "strong" MC with a shit ton of battle experience and has killed Gods slips on a banana peel and skewers themselves on Raynare's almighty light spear. Which by the way, if they were that strong then Rias wouldn't have been able to revive them in the first place but semantics. Ensues original plot chapter for chapter. Its stupid. The only reason Raynare would ever be able to hit Pierce with her light spear is because he'd let her do it to prove a point before wiping her off the face of DxD with his **pinkie**...Okay, I'm dragging it but she would be cosmic dust if she ever tried to attack Pierce in the future. Hell, current Pierce could beat Raynare with one hand tied behind his back and hopping on one leg. Pierce 400 years from now? Heh...Ichiei couldn't write fast enough to save Raynare's sexy ass.

* * *

**Chapter 32: Shadowy Lands**

Disclaimer: So it's obvious what I'm going to say here but let's be honest, if I say "I own Highschool DxD" will any copyright people really come knocking on my door? I highly doubt that…well I'm paranoid as fuck so I'm going to say I don't own Highschool DxD and just claim the OCs. They'll never catch me slipping!

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – _'Neat'_

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Three Months Later, Mukō**

In the far land of the setting sun, laid a small town that was established less than a decade ago. It was called Mukō Town and it had quite the interesting history. Once the capital of Japan from 784 to 794 by orders of the Emperor at the time, it was soon abandoned because of flooding and superstition. In recent years, a road called the Saigoku Kaido was created and the small town started to flourish because it was connected to the current capital, Kyoto and the Settsu Province. Many Japanese citizens walked through the town, stopping at many stores and street vendors along the way. There was an influx of them since the road's completion and the town's activity skyrocketed. And in this small town, laid a large palace. The former residence of the Emperor, it was now condemned and no one resided there.

Or that's what most people thought anyway. If one were to look within this abandoned palace, they would find the entire place completely clean and untouched by dust or debris. A Torii was placed in the yard of the former Emperor and this traditional Japanese gate was exactly that. A gate. A gate to the land of the noble and ancient Yokai clan, the Shadow Leopards. Now many would think that from their names, their land would be dark or dreary but the land of the Shadow Leopards was actually quite beautiful. While the sun was usually covered in clouds during the day, probably by their designs, the city's architecture of a high class noble family. Wooden houses with interconnected gardens, tall Pagoda's that cornered each end of the city and a castle that rested in the center. The castle was the home of the current leader of the Shadow Leopards and its Elders (though with the unification among them, any Shadow Yokai was allowed in if they had business with the higher ups).

And like any proper castle, there was a dungeon that housed criminals that were to be dealt with in due time.

"Hey! Hey! I know you can hear me! Let me out! I'm innocent I tell you! It was all the Demigod's fault, I swear!" Guess where I currently was. I held the handlebars of my cage, ignoring Aindrea's glare coming from behind me and tried to get the guard's attention. He didn't budge. "Fine, be that way but I want to see the warden! Show me the charges! I want my phone call!" I kept rattling the bars and the guard sighed.

"Please call down, I promise everything will be cleared up soon." The guard, who was named Aimoto, said.

"Lies! You say that to all the prisoners, don't you!? Well I won't fall for it, give me my phone call!" I didn't relent, continuing to annoy Aimoto.

"…For the last time, I don't know what that means!"

This continued for some time and eventually another guard came to relieve Aimoto of his duty. Taking a big sigh of relief, he gave the new guard a look of pity before running up the stairs. The new guard's face was a mask of confusion and he never noticed the sly smile I gave him (though he did slightly shiver, to his confusion).

"Can you knock it off already, I'm trying to sleep over here." I turned to Vargas' voice and saw him resting on a fluffy couch, Samantha lying next to him reading a book.

"Ah, but if I do that then who will bothe-I mean, talk to the guards? I don't want them to get lonely." I said with a sympathetic face and he deadpanned.

"I don't know what's worse, when you're purposely being annoying or when you're naturally an ass."

"That's a good question…let me get back to you on that." I turned to annoy the new guard but Adrian grabbed my shoulder.

"How about we spare the sanity of this guard and just relax for the time being, huh?"

"…Fine." I sighed and gave the guard a stink eye. "You and I aren't finished though. Mark my words."

"…What?" The guard had no idea what was going on. I walked away from the bars and took a seat next to Maven, looking around at our cell. Though it wasn't what I'd call a "cell". It looked like a traditional Japanese room; tatami mat flooring with a variety of furniture, sliding doors that led to a kitchen and bathroom respectively, and small lamps hanging from the ceiling. It was all very nice and if it wasn't for the bars, I definitely would recommend it to a friend (I probably still would actually).

'Now I'm really curious what happened while Melissa was here.' I laid back against the soft I was sitting on, thinking back on my Yokai girlfriend's decision to go back home and my choice to check up on her.

I still blame Aindrea...

* * *

**Earlier Today, Elysian Fields**

The last couple of months in the Greek Heaven was quite fruitful to say the least. Athena and Apollon weren't kidding when they said they'll pull out all the stops to increase our strength. Every day was spent working on our strengths and stressing them in multiple ways. Adrian, Vargas, Melissa, and Aindrea were given the same weight seals Athena puts on me (though theirs were slighter lighter) and they were continually increased throughout the training. Adrian and Vargas were taking lessons from Apollon in how to handle their respective powers and how to use them in a variety of ways. Athena trained Melissa, Aindrea and I in physical combat while Maven and Samantha were trained by Demeter. Demeter knew a large amount of elemental and protection spells, along with a couple of others that both magic based women would readily benefit from learning.

After morning lessons from the Olympians, the afternoon was spent sparing with the Greek Worshippers in the Elysian Fields. There were warriors from every part of the roman era and before, some existing since the Olympians beat the Titans and created Olympus. Many were good teachers and fixed any disparities we had in our fighting forms. I wasn't a Greek nut so I didn't recognize a lot of the Greek warriors but I was pleasantly surprised to meet historical icons like Aeneas and Hector. I was awed when I met the late Spartan King, Leonidas, and found him to be a pretty chill dude. Even though he was the king of Sparta in a time where religion was usually favored over science (mostly), he didn't have any supernatural abilities or owned magic weapons in life. I was physically better than him but more times than not, he could walk circles around me with his battle experience (though my stamina far outstripped his). My overall abilities have increased considerably in this time period. The first day of training, I asked Athena if it was finally time to learn some Senjutsu and she mercilessly shot me down. In my shock, I asked why and she answered with a question.

"What's the point of gaining more powers when you haven't mastered the ones you already have?" My Chi was very impressive, she would be the first one to admit that and it will only grow stronger in time. But that's exactly what it needs, time. There were no shortcuts or massive boosts in power from Chi, it was a gradual process. Sun Wukong, the most famous being to use Chi to its full potential, was also limited by this. Even with his natural talent and battle genius, it took the better part of a century to match the strength of the Gods. With how long-lived supernatural beings are, that was an incredibly short amount of time. It was also agreed by many factions that if Sun spent his youth training instead of goofing off and causing trouble, he would have matched the Gods long before that (Even when he did eventually reach the Gods, he still messed around and it took the Buddha putting him under a mountain for him to get his act together). Being involved in constant fights have made my Chi stronger but my body was still young and it could only increase at a certain pace.

My limited arsenal of Magic was another thing. Athena was honestly astounded that I was able to beat the beings I have with only three Strengthening Spells to my name. She also noticed that the Strengthening Spells I cast seem to boost my physical abilities far more than it would for a supernatural being like a Devil or a Demigod. She theorized that because I was human, I didn't have the natural resistance towards magic that most supernatural beings had. But that also worked in my favor; making Strengthening Spells more effective on me (my Touki also helps block most magic spells anyway).

Then there were Dáinsleif and Tyrfing. Both of their original users were fairly powerful warriors that made a name for themselves in a chaotic era and it's not like they were the only ones. Beowulf, Sigurd and Θraētaona all owned Demon Swords and killed Dragons, something many Gods can't say they've done. Not to mention that I just gained both of them, I barely scratched the surface of all the things I could do with either swords. Sword Fury and Tyrfing's destructive aura combined spoke of the many possibilities. I had three different routes for power where many warriors of the past were blessed to have just one…Athena's smile when she pieced that together made me all the more attracted to her and scared the living hell out of me. I threw myself into learning new Strengthening Spells from that day on and training with the Demon Swords, making sure not to go overboard as to not be drained of life force even with my large reserves.

As it became easier to wield both Demon Swords with minimal strain and starting to learn 3rd Order Strengthening Spells, I also dipped a hand in Healing magic. Samantha was for the most part a good teacher, though she had trouble explaining how to guide the Mana in a healing spell through an injury (mainly since it comes naturally to her), I was still able to gain a 1st Order Healing Spell to my arsenal. It wasn't much but we all gotta start somewhere.

"I still don't get how you're so good at this." Athena said as she lay back on her inclined chair, sighing as my hands ran through her hair. The Goddess of Wisdom and I were in the middle of a meadow with a pond resting next to us. A small cabin with engravings on the woods was nearby. While the Olympians owned all of the Elysian Fields, this was Athena's personal abode. They gave us periodic breaks to relax from training and Athena sometimes brings me here to hang out. She chose to comb her hair in front of me once and I offered to do that for her. I must have done a great job because she made me her personal hair brusher since then.

'I guess I better add "personal hair brusher of the Goddess of Wisdom and War" to the list.' I thought with a chuckle and started to braid Athena's hair. "I have my mom's hair and she tended to mess with it whenever she could. She'd also force me to braid her hair." My sisters from my past life also used me as a guinea pig whenever doing hair styles. Athena hummed at that.

"She sounds like an interesting woman. I'd love to meet her."

"Sounds like a plan." I smiled at the thought and Athena sat up, admiring my finished work. She played with the braids for a bit before standing up and patting the chair. "…Hm?" I didn't get it.

"Sit down on the chair Pierce." Athena rolled her eyes and I gave a quick "oh" before sitting down with a sheepish grin (she never offered before so it took me a second to catch on). I felt the soft hands of the Goddess run through my hair and I closed my eyes as she ran a brush through it. A sense of calm ran through me, my body relaxing as I listened to the sound of the wind passing by the meadow and the warm sun hitting my face. My mind started to wander to recent events and a frown made its way on my face. "Is something the matter?" I heard Athena ask and I sighed.

"Just thinking about Melissa." I felt Athena's hands momentarily stop before resuming.

"You know, it's considered bad manners to think about a woman while in the presence of another." I looked at Athena and she had her brow raised.

"You asked." I deadpanned and she scuffed.

"Lie next time."

"…There's no winning with you guys is there."

"Nope." Athena gave a cheeky grin and I shook my head.

"Women…" I ignored the small tug from Athena and we settled back into silence. The reason I was thinking about Melissa was because she went back to her homeland to take care of something. She didn't specify what but I offered to go with her all the same, but she said it shouldn't take too long. I respected her decision, knowing I did something similar when choosing to go to the Underworld. But it's been a week since she messaged that she made it home and no word came after that. While everyone was a bit worried, Athena reasoned that the Shadow Leopard's ancestry makes it important to the Yokai faction and it won't be easily endangered.

"If you want to check on her then you should go." Athena offered and I looked up at her in confusion.

"But what about my training?"

"We'll still be here even if you leave for a couple of days. No one's forcing you to stay on Olympus Pierce, you've already fought enough for us. It's up to you if you want to keep going…though leaving when we put so much work into you guys would be mean." I blinked at Athena's joke and chuckled.

"Thanks Athena." She patted my head.

"Anytime." She walked away after that. I sat up and let out a breath. While a part of me wanted to respect Melissa's decision to go home by herself, another part reasoned that it was pretty suspicious there was no message after the first one when she got home. Besides, it's not like she wouldn't come looking for me if I didn't come back after a week in the Underworld (though I'll abstain from comparing her clan home to Hell, that won't end well for anybody). I stretched as I stood up and went to splash some pond water in my face. I gave a content sigh at the cold, refreshing water and stared at my reflection in the pond. I blinked at what I saw. In my deep thinking, I didn't pay attention to Athena's hands and her work.

"Athena!" I yelled and the soft giggling of the Goddess rang out, forcing me to chase after her.

For what it's worth…I looked pretty alright with pigtails.

* * *

I soon alerted everyone to my departure to Melissa's homeland. I said so during lunch and Maven asked a good question while eating a tuna sandwich.

"Do you know how to get there?"

"…" Everyone's deadpan expression made me blush pretty hard.

"Even if you did know how to get there, there's no guarantee that they'll let you in." Vargas added while drinking some tea but I was one step ahead of him.

"Even with this?" I lifted my arm and rolled down my sleeves, pouring Mana into my forearm. A yellow Taoist symbol appeared and Maven narrowed her eyes at it. She walked to me and traced a finger over the symbol.

"Where did you get this?" The mage asked with a pointed look.

"Amaterasu gave it to me after we stopped Shiruku from stealing the Orochi's body…I kind of forgot about it." I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment and Adrian leaned over to get a closer look.

"What is it?"

"A Shinto sigil of Honor. Beings that have done great services for the Shinto Gods are given them; a clan like the Shadow Leopards will definitely recognize this and most likely allow you entry." The Shinto Gods and the Yokai race as a whole have a pretty close history, meaning that someone honored by them will be treated with respect. Adrian nodded at information before standing up.

"Well the day's still young; we can head over now with plenty of time to spare." I blankly stared at the Emissary's smile. "We're all worried for Melissa, Pierce. What? You thought that we'll only come looking for you if you're gone for a long time?"

"…" Adrian just chuckled at the thumbs up I gave him in response. Everyone else soon finished eating their lunch and we made our way to the portal. Giving a quick hi to Thallo as we left the first gate, Maven teleported us to Mukō where they originally met Melissa. I quirked a brow when Adrian warned us about strange movements from all the Yokai clans in Japan and to be careful.

'Strange movements? What does that even mean? I wish he was less vague about these sort of things…or more punctual.' I shook my head at Adrian's information giving as the light from the teleportation slowly covered us. 'Oh well, it's probably not that important. We're just going to go check on her…' Light flooded my vision.

What could go wrong?

* * *

**Back to the Present**

'You'd think I would have learned by now.' I wistfully thought as I rested on the comfortable couch, Maven leaning on my shoulder while she fed Jade chocolate. The mage chuckled when the Moon Hare nibbled on her fingers and I turned to scowl at Aindrea. "Thanks by the way, spear crazy!"

"In what way is this my fault?" I scoffed at the Demigod's question.

"You just had to go and piss off that Elder didn't you?" Aindrea frowned at that.

"I didn't piss off any Elder."

"Really? Because I don't think that Yokai you were flirting with appreciated the attention." I said and it took a couple of seconds for Aindrea to understand before he paled.

"T-That was an Elder?" He grimaced at my nod. "Oh Zeus…"

"Oh, don't tell me you're one of those guys that care a lot about age." I mean, the Elder's aura showed she was even older then Athena or Apollon (though nowhere near as powerful) but she was still very attractive. "Age is just a number."

"Urghhh…" That did little to help the Demigod who realized he hit on a (really) great grandma and we all laughed at his plight. I thought of how we got to this point.

Everything was going alright; we appeared in the middle of Mukō and walked to the "abandoned" palace in the distance. Jumping over the high walls, we made for the Shinto Gate in the Emperor's yard and were met with a couple of Shadow Leopard sentinels. They asked us to leave but I showed them the mark and one of them recognized it. He spoke into his communication ring (probably for instructions) and after a second, asked us why we were here. Not wanting to draw attention to ourselves, we kept out the fact we were an Emissary team from Olympus and said we came to see a friend. I narrowed my eyes when they stiffened when we said Melissa and they asked for our names.

I became very on guard when I gave my name and they tried their hardest to keep a straight face. To be fair, their auras barely fluctuated and there was more curiosity than anything else in them. They activated the gate and we were allowed into the land of the Shadow Yokais. I was allowed a minute or two to marvel at the beautiful city before a group of guards with an Elder arrived to greet us. They gave us a polite greeting and asked us to come with them to the castle in the center.

And the reason why I blame Aindrea was because he was flirting with the Elder the whole time and slowly irritating her. She must have snapped because we were walking up a flight of stairs when Aindrea gave a cheesy pick up line and she abruptly turned around, saying she had a "better place in mind".

'She wasn't wrong, this place is pretty nice.' I took a plate of food the guards brought us, licking my lips at the tasty udon. Why were we so calm when we were essentially in a supernatural prison? Well for one…the food was damn good! 'If this is the food they give to prisoners, then I want to see the food they give to the leader.' I had to hold my bowl away when Jade tried to stick her head in.

But in all seriousness, there were multiple reasons why we haven't tried to bust out. For one, this was Melissa's home town and trying to bust out would entitle them to try and stop us. We didn't feel like messing up her home if we couldn't help it. Reason number two is that they've been relatively friendly towards us; I didn't feel any malice from the Yokais when they came to greet us and the guards watching us were in the same boat. They haven't tried to take away any of our stuff either, we still had our space rings with our weapons and they didn't ask for them.

And the most important reason, in Maven's opinion, was there weren't any containment spells in this cell. There was nothing to suppress our powers and even the bars weren't magically made, they were ordinary iron bars. I thought I just couldn't sense the spells within them and hit a bar with a Chi coated fist, sending it flying into the adjacent wall (I apologized to the surprised Aimoto who was watching).

All things considered, they haven't bothered restricting us in any meaningful way so we chose to stay put and see how things turn out. Half an hour quickly passed and I walked out of the bathroom, coming back to Samantha asking if they planned to execute us for some offence we did.

"Do you think that they'll go old school with a guillotine or a hanging? Ooohh, do you think we'll need to cut our stomachs to preserve our honor? That sounds nice!" We gave wry smiles at the honest look on the healer's face.

"That's only for Samurai's, Samantha. It wouldn't make sense for us to do it." Maven explained.

"_That's_ the problem you have with what she said?" I asked rhetorically and the mage stuck her tongue out at me. We kept messing around until Aimoto came back and unlocked the bars. He asked us to follow him and when we all got out, lifted a pair of handcuffs towards me. "Are you serious?" I deadpanned.

"I'm sorry, it's my orders." Aimoto's look reluctant as well and proceeded to place them on my wrists. I lifted the cuffs and noticed they were made from ordinary iron too, not a hint of magic within them.

"Hey wait, why am I the only one handcuffed?!" He made no moment to put handcuffs on the others and kept walking on. Grumbling, we followed the guard through a long corridor and I started to hear a commotion coming from the door we came to. A pair of guards opened the door and we saw what was on the other side. A white tile arena was in the middle of this small stadium-like building. The sun was high in the sky as a large group of people sat in the stands, I sensed they were all Shadow Yokais and the guards led us up the stairs to the stands.

"You go this way please." Well, not all of us. Aimoto pointed me in the direction of the arena and everyone frowned at that, Vargas moving to step forward. I lifted a hand to stop him and stared at the guard.

"Why?" I asked with a stern voice and narrowed my eyes when he said it was the Head Elder's orders. 'I'm starting to think it wasn't entirely Aindrea's fault we were put in that cell.' I looked to the others.

"I'll be right back." They all nodded in return, keeping their weapons in hand as I turned around and walked to the arena. The Yokai's in the stands continued talking as I walked up the steps and stood in the middle of the arena. I looked around for something to happen and not a minute later, a group of people arrived. These people all looked high class, wearing expensive jewelry and tasteful Kimonos. Leading this group of people were two men, one old and middle aged respectively. The middle aged man was tall, had black hair, golden eyes and a handsome face. He was decently built. I observed the old man next to him and one thought came to mind.

'I wonder if he calls the kids who play on his lawn whippersnappers.' The old man was miserly looking, having white hair with streaks of black, gold eyes and an eternal frown. I couldn't sense his Chi to affirm his age but he walked with a perfectly straight back and firm steps. They walked to the top of the stadium, standing on this podium where they could be seen by everyone. The people quieted down as the old man stepped forward and cleared his voice.

"Welcome, fellow brothers and sisters of the Shadows." The old man's voice was crystal clear, vibrating across the small stadium. "Forgive me for gathering you all here for I know you all have many preparations to complete in the coming days but this could not have waited. We must figure out what to do with this…malefactor." His voice got angry at this point and murmuring started to spread. He turned to look in my direction. "Step forward, accused."

"…" I looked behind me to see who he was talking to but I saw no one. "…Oh you are not talking about me."

"Step forward." The old man commanded.

"How about we meet in the middle and you take a step forward first. Cool?" I offered but he just continued to frown. "And speaking of being accused, I think you got the wrong guy. I haven't done anything."

"Oh? So you haven't done any of these charges made against you?" The old man quickly took out a sheet of paper that was quite long and read the first one at the top. "Have you not trespassed on our lands without consent?" I frowned at that.

"Now hold on, those guards let me in-"

"Or did you not show disrespect to a founding Elder?"

"That wasn't me! That was Ain-"

"Or endanger the life of a noble Shadow Leopard and keep her from her home!?"

"Will you just let me talk for a min-" I stopped at the last one, finding it oddly familiar. "Wait, do you mean Melissa?"

"Ah ha! So you finally admit to your crimes!" The old man exclaimed in righteousness and continued reading from the list. "Inappropriate pre-marital liaisons, illegal capture of our clan techniques, aggressive involvement with another faction. The list goes on! Such blatant disrespect towards our way of life and practices cannot go unpunished! What say you all!?" The old man riled up the crowd and they ate into it, leaving everyone gaping at the scene in complete stupor. "Then it's agreed, you shall face punishment for your wrong doings accuser in a Trial of Combat! Let the challenger step forward!" The crowd roared in excitement, though probably more for the fact a fight will happen than for "justice", and I raised a hand.

"Um, can I ask a question?" The old man turned his frowning face back to me.

"Make it quick."

"Well, it's actually two but my first one is who the hell are you?" I asked the question I've been having for a while and the old man stood straighter.

"I am the son of our progenitor and the Head Elder, Fusao."

"He's also Melissa's incredibly overprotective Grandfather." The middle aged man from earlier spoke. He jumped from the podium and landed on the arena. His words earned him a glare from Fusao and he gave me a nod. "Hello, I'm Melissa's uncle Asao. Sorry about this but it'll all be explained soon enough." His assurance didn't register as I pieced together the puzzle and turned back to Fusao.

"So you're telling me…the reason I'm standing here, on probably the most rigged trial in the history of ever…is because I slept with your granddaughter?" I asked in shock and blinked when Fusao's eyes widened before they hardened. The silence was deafening. "…You didn't know that did yo-"

"BEGIN!" Fusao's face looked ready to burst and the crowd cheered, a see through barrier rising around the arena. I glanced over to the others, they're blank faces showing they found this stupid as well, and I sighed at Asao.

"How did this guy become Head Elder?"

"Dumb luck." Melissa's uncle sighed as well, probably not expecting his day to go like this. Manipulating his shadow, a whip made of shadows appeared in his hand and he slashed in my direction. I didn't react as it sliced my cuffs in two. "It would not do for you to be handicapped."

"At least someone here is honorable." I hypocritically said, being the last person that should talk about honor. I stared at barrier and spoke. "So do we really have to fight or-?" Asao's fist flying at my face answered my question. I leaned back to dodge the attack, lifting my arm to block his follow up and pushed him back with a palm. He didn't sit still and lunged at me again, sending a flurry of punches and kicks. I weaved through his barrage, blocking when I couldn't dodge and grabbed his leg. I flung him against the barrier and Chi Burst at him, slamming my fist into his chest. I was surprised when my fist went through, afraid that I had killed him but "Asao" dissolved into a mass of shadows. The shadows crawled up my arm and tried to squeeze down but a burst of Touki threw it off.

"So you can use Chi! I thought that they were just making that up." I turned around to see Asao coming out of a pool of shadows in the middle of the ring. "Though teaching you Touki is hardly giving away our clan techniques."

"Melissa didn't teach me how to use Chi, I knew about it long before I met her." I said while ripping the remaining shadows off my arm and Asao was surprised by that.

"Really?" He looked me up and down before smiling. "Then let's see what else you got."

Asao also activated Touki and coated his body in an armor made of shadows. He reached me in an instant and I crossed my arms, blocking his punch. A shockwave went out as I skidded back and met his leg with my own. I frowned as I lost slightly in the exchange and Chi Burst away from his second kick. Asao had no problem keeping up with me and we zoomed across the arena, our blows causing smaller shockwaves whenever they met. The cheers of the crowd only got louder as Asao kicked me in the stomach and sent me flying into the barrier. Grunting slightly from the impact, I rolled to the side as Asao's fist landed on the barrier and caused a ripple. I frowned at the small crack that appeared.

"Hey! That could have really hurt! What happened to "don't worry about this" huh!?" Asao lifted a brow.

"I said that this will be explained in time, I never said not to take it seriously."

"…Same difference!" I exclaimed and he shook his head.

"She was right, you are odd." Asao lunged at me after saying that and started pelting me with his now spiked gauntlets. The blows, while fast, couldn't get through my Touki and I smashed my fist in Asao's face. He flew back slightly, his nose bleeding and his balance wobbly. I pressed my advantage and Asao quickly became on the defensive, my fists hitting every part of his body. Just as I was about to kick his mid stomach, he sank into his shadow and my leg hit air. I cautiously looked around, wondering where he would come out from and kept an eye on my own shadow. A shadow tendril suddenly shot out from between the tiles and I retreated before it could grab me. That wasn't the only one as many tendrils started popping up around the arena and came at me with a vengeance. I dodged left and right, not allowing myself to stay in one place to long or be ensnared. I frowned when one tendril grazed my thigh and left a small cut.

'So this how it feels to fight Melissa? Damn this is annoying.' The tendrils never seemed to end even when I cut them to pieces and Asao was nowhere to be seen. I never asked Melissa how one could drag a Shadow Leopard from the shadows because I never thought to bring it up (that would be some odd pillow talk though). I did know however that using these shadow tendrils used up their fair share of Chi so if it's a stamina fight Asao wants then he's in for a rude awakening. He must have known that since after 5 minutes of dodging, he came out from his hidey hole.

"You are quite strong mister Pierce; hopefully enough where doing this won't get me in trouble." Asao chuckled at his own words and I frowned at what I saw next. I felt something shift in the air and Asao's body slowly started to change. I activated Chi Vision to see what he was doing and watched as his Chi became…pure. I blinked at the thought, wondering why I thought that and Asao's transformation was complete. He was a little shorter now, roughly my height, his clothes now too large for his body and his face was younger. He took off his shirt, dropping it on the ground because of how baggy it was now and rolled his shoulder. "I'm always reminded of my age when I synchronize with Mother Nature, it's pretty sad." He sighed at the confession and smiled at my confused face.

"What was th-'' I didn't get to finish as Asao disappeared from my vision and in my stupor, couldn't react to his fist hitting my chest. A shockwave went out as I flung away and did a back flip before landing on my feet. I grimaced as I felt a rib give way from his punch and my Chi worked on fixing that. Asao looked surprised as I nonchalantly stood straight and wiped the blood from the corner of my mouth.

"…I figured it wouldn't be that eas-"

"_**Ferro Corpus, Celeritas Decem**__, __**Donum Consensu Initis." **_Three magic circles appeared under me, the energy from them fusing into my Touki. The crowd seemed awed into silence as my Touki turned into a silver brighter than usual (not that they knew that) and I glared at Asao. "If you're going to interrupt me then at least let it be because I'm rambling or doing a villain monologue, doing it just to show off your new strength makes you look like a jackass!"

"…What?" I sent 3 Chi Swords at Asao and he weaved through them, rushing at me once again. Just like before, I couldn't track his movements but when his foot landed on my arm he hissed in pain. Stumbling back, he blocked my fist with his arm and was sent flying away. Jumping up, I tried to land on him but he rolled out of the way. A crater formed under me and I Chi Burst to him, kicking him in the chest. He spat out blood and summoned a bunch of Shadow Hounds. I moved in a blur, incapacitating the hounds in seconds but that was all the time Asao needed.

**"Kamaitachi.'' **The shadows in Asao's hands turned into a large scythe, the bladed part digging into the stone floor. He flicked the scythe and sent a stone projectile at me. I smacked the stone chunks to the side and Asao swiped at me. I calmly ducked, the scythe swishing past where my head once was and jumped to the side when it came down.

'So that's how we're playing this.' Seeing how Asao's aura grew stronger, I chose to get serious as well and took out my Demon Swords. With both Dáinsleif and Tyrfing ready to go, I stared down the Shadow Yokai and he stared back. A minute of this passed before we rushed at each other.

The crowd's cheering only got louder as shadows, ice, and power clashed.

* * *

**Same Time, Entrance to the Land of the Shadow Yokais**

Melissa sighed in relief as she came through the Torii gate, glad to be home after dealing with all the political nonsense this past week. Her sigh must have been heard because a hand lightly hit her head.

"Oh stop being dramatic, it wasn't that bad." Melissa turned to the owner of said hand. A very beautiful woman stood in front of the Shadow Yokai. She had long black hair, golden eyes, and a voluptuous figure. This was Melissa's mother, Mayumi and Melissa deadpanned.

"Mom, that was the worst week of my life and I've been to the Kappa Groves with dad."

"…You're never going to let me live that down are you?" Melissa's father, Ren said with a groan when he stepped out of the portal. He was a tall man with black hair, a handsome face and golden eyes.

"Considering you lost all our food in a bet in a sumo match…no, I don't think I will."

"…" Ren had no comeback for that. The trio started to walk down the street, saying hello to any passing Yokais and made way to the castle. Melissa noticed there seemed to be less people on the street today which was odd considering what's going to happen in a couple of days. She furrowed her brows when they passed the communal Arena and a lot of noise was being made inside.

"What's going on in there?" Mayumi asked, also wondering why there was so much noise coming from within. "Are Hideo and Genzo fighting over artifacts again?" Melissa's mother figured that the two elders known for fighting over relics were the ones causing the racket.

"They really need to find a new hobby." Ren said wistfully and walked towards the entrance. "Come on, let's see what's going on." While a part of Melissa was curious, the majority just wanted to go to her room and sleep until the festival started. Her original plan to just help watch over her siblings and the clan while her parents went to talk with the other affiliated clans backfired spectacularly. Granted her decision to tell her parents the truth about her "travels" these past couple of months may have had a hand in it, she still thought they were being unreasonable (not that she would ever voice that of course). They eventually reached the stands and looked down at the arena, seeing two figures blur across the floor. Melissa noticed that every time the blurs met, a shockwave went out along with a burst of shadows and ice-

'Wait, ice?' Melissa furrowed her brows as the color of ice was purple and didn't remember an elder that can do that. Then the blur with a scythe was pinned to the ground by a green glowing sword and it was held by someone glowing silv-

"What the hell is going on!?" Mayumi's voice vibrated across the arena, silencing the loud cheering and gaining everyone's attention. Both combatants jumped at the voice and Pierce separated from her uncle, looking around for the source of the voice before his gaze landed on her. They stared at each other across the stadium for a second before Fusao's voice rang out.

"Mayumi, what is the meaning of this!? We were in the middle of-"

"You be quiet!" Her mother immediately shut down the Head Elder's words, causing him to gape. "I'm not even going to ask what you were thinking but we will talk about this later!"

"But-"

"Sit Down!" The Head Elder sat down at the angry tone of the Matriarch and she sighed. "Everyone go home, this fight is over." While that got a couple of disappointed sounds from the crowd, everyone in the stands filed out in an orderly fashion or sank into their shadows. Soon, the only ones left were Melissa, her parents, the Elders, and the team. The silence was deafening as Mayumi glared at Fusao, Asao and Pierce standing in front of her. "Do any of you have anything to say about yourselves?" No one said anything as they looked at each other.

"They started it." Well, not everyone. Melissa covered her face with her palm as Mayumi and Ren gave Pierce unimpressed looks. This was not how she envisioned her parents meeting her boyfriend for the first time.

She ignored the small voice in the back of her head that said "yes, yes it was".

* * *

**1 Hour Later, Back to Pierce**

Melissa and I sat facing each other in a small guest room, Jade sleeping on my lap. After Melissa's mother arrived and ended the trial, we were escorted to the castle. Her parents went to have a word with her grandfather while the others were brought to their own rooms, giving us some time to talk.

"…"

"…"

"…So…how have things been?" I asked and Melissa gave a shrug.

"They've been alright."

"Cool…Cool." I nodded.

"…"

"…" Okay, this was awkward as hell. I tilted my head at her snort. "What?"

"I agree, this is weird." It took me a second too long to realize I said that out loud. "Then again, beating the crap out of my uncle the first time you ever met would make anything awkward."

"Oh come on, now's that not fair. They started it!" Melissa chuckled at my whine.

"I believe you; my uncle can get carried away when meeting a strong opponent."

"Yeah, I was thinking more of your overprotective grandpa." She made a confused face at the mention of Fusao.

"Really? That doesn't sound like him…" Melissa fell into deep thought before shrugging. "Well, it's safe to say you made quite the first impression."

"Don't I always?" I smirked and she rolled her eyes. With the awkward mood from earlier gone, we started talking about random stuff and she explained what happened to her this past week. After coming home and spending time with her family, she told her parents that she was on a team tasked to kill Zeth. While they were shocked at their daughter's choice to do something so dangerous, they ultimately respected her decision. I made a weird expression when I heard that.

"So they weren't mad?" Melissa laughed.

"Oh no, they were furious but they realized telling me not to go wouldn't work so they just accepted it." But that didn't stop her parents from punishing her and forcing her to come with them to run a couple of errands for the up-coming Yokai Festival (they also took away her communication ring so she wouldn't get distracted).

"What is a Yokai Festival?"

"It's where all the Yokai clans in Japan and the Shinto Gods gather together to throw a three day and three night long celebration. It's to celebrate the ancient history between the two factions and to hope for more to come. It's pretty fun!" Melissa started to get animated talking about the festival and it got me excited as well.

"Can we go?" I asked, wondering if it's only Yokais and Shinto Gods allowed but Melissa said some humans have joined the festival before. Grinning at the thought of seeing such an event, I was surprised when Melissa leaned over and kissed me. I gave her a curious look when she pulled back.

"Thank you for coming to check on me, I should have explained my situation better." Melissa said and I waved my hand at her.

"It's not like you could control it, I'm just glad you're safe."

"So you're not mad?" I smiled at Melissa's question.

"You tell me." I pulled Melissa closer and gave her a kiss, one she readily returned. Jade scrambled from my lap as Melissa straddled it and pressed her large chest against mine. Our kiss got more aggressive as I ran my hands across her thighs and she started to grind on me.

"Ah-hem." We stopped at the sound and looked over to see the door now open. Melissa's parents along with her grandfather were standing there, giving us bland looks (though Fusao was practically glaring). Feeling Melissa's weight off me a second later, I looked over to see her calmly sitting in her original position. One thought ran through my head as Melissa fixed her clothes.

'…If Issei can learn boob magic then I'm going to learn a spell that wards off cock blockers, I swear on Ichiei!' Promising to make such a spell later (or see if it already exists), I stood up and bowed to Melissa's family. "Hi, you guys must already know this but I'm Pierce. Pleasure to meet you all." Mayumi and Ren bowed back, Fusao looking away in contempt. Well he tried to anyway but Melissa's mom forced him to bow as well.

"I thought we talked about this, stop being difficult and act your age!" The Matriarch lectured the far older elder and he grunted before doing so. She shook her head at her father in law's manners and took a seat next to Melissa. Ren sat on the opposite side and Fusao sat next to me (though his glare never left his face).

"It's a pleasure to meet you as well Pierce, Melissa has told us a lot about you." Ren said and I perked up at that, giving the mentioned Yokai a sly grin.

"She has? What has she said?"

"That you're kind, funny, mature for your age…" My grin only got wider as the compliments kept coming. "…a bit dramatic, easily distracted…" The smile cracked a little. "Too honest for his own good, enjoys confusing others, can't understand proper etiquette…" My smile was gone and my head hung low. "Slightly reckless but not overly, hypocritical, oh yeah she also sai-" Ren's mouth was quickly covered by Mayumi's hand and he looked at his wife in confusion.

"I don't think Pierce can take anymore dear." She pointed at my hunched figure in the corner and sheepishly rubbed his head.

"...I try my best you know…it's all in good fun I swear…" I said in a sad tone and hugged my knees to my chest. Fusao humphed.

"If I knew it would be that easy I wouldn't have staged that trial. Now I know."

"Your true intentions are leaking out father." Mayumi deadpanned but the Head Elder kept drinking his tea nonchalantly. Ren laughed and patted Melissa on the head.

"You sure found quite a character to bring home, I guess it runs in the family!"

"Oh? So that's why you married me? Cause I'm a character?" Mayumi asked Ren menacingly and he started to sweat.

"W-Well, yeah! I-It's a compliment!" His wife didn't think it was. I blankly watched them ignore me and looked down to see Jade rubbing against my leg, wondering what was wrong.

"Awww that's my girl, caring about your master so much! You're the only solace I have left in this cruel world, come here!" I dramatically hugged the green Familiar, mock tears on my face as I rubbed her against my face.

"…" Jade, in all her rabbitness, made no comment on the oddity that was her master and just nuzzled back. Mayumi, after giving her husband what for, cleared her throat and looked at me.

"As amusing as this is, I feel like we should clear what happened earlier and why."

"I'm still not apologizing." Fusao huffed and Ren sighed.

"Father…" The Elder looked away in defiance. Ren rolled his eyes and turned to face me. "While my father may have been a bit over biased in that "trial", I assure you he wasn't the only one that demanded it." I furrowed my brows at that.

"Who else asked for it?"

"Most of the Elders actually." I blinked.

"Really? Why? How did I manage to piss off a bunch of noble Yokai's before even meeting them?" That'd be a new record, even for me. Ren pointed at Melissa.

"Because of her." I tilted my head in confusion and he saw fit to explain. "Melissa's importance is quite high to the Shadow Leopard's Pierce. She has a soul link with our origin of power, the Shadow Realm, she's the daughter of the ruling Matriarch and her own combat potential is very impressive. Many, if not all the Elders were against her going out on her own but her mother convinced them that she needed to go out and experience the world for herself. Their faces when she told them what she was really doing these past few months were incredible." Ren chuckled at the memory before regaining focus. "Her relationship with you also got a couple of mixed reactions."

"Why?"

"Because you're a human boy." Fusao answered and I looked to the Head Elder, the usual frown facing now a neutral expression. "In the world we live in and with our nobility, we must have a strong hand when it comes to our future. I'll be frank boy-

"Because you haven't been frank before?" I deadpanned but he didn't flinch.

"The majority of humans are weak. I won't say all because I've seen plenty of strong humans but we didn't get our hopes up that the one Melissa had her eye on was anything special. The only reason we didn't completely reject the relationship was because of your accomplishments. In depth knowledge of Chi, practitioner of Magic, wielder of multiple Demon Swords, apprentice to an Olympian God, Ultimate Class Slayer...I must say, when she started to giving out such titles I thought she was trying to cover up her decision with lies." The old man gave a small chuckle, earning a blush from Melissa and laughs from her parents. "We had to see it for ourselves."

"So that trial was-"

"Was a way to show the Elders you were worthy of Melissa." Mayumi finished and shook her head in exhaustion. "But the moment you showed the gatekeepers that you had the Shinto God's Sigil of Honor the whole thing should have been called off. A lot of old Yokai clans don't have that and shows your worth to the Shinto Gods."

'...Thank you Amaterasu.' I rubbed the place the Sigil was on and Fusao stood up.

"Regardless, you have shown enough potential and ability to protect this clan's dignity." Fusao gave a solemn look. "But mark my words, if you ever have the intent to harm her or this clan, I will personally come after you with all the power these old bones can give me. Is that understood?" Melissa moved to stand.

"Grandfather-" Her mother stopped her and we got into a staring match. I stared into Fusao's wizened eyes and nodded firmly.

"I promise." The Head Elder said nothing before giving a sincere smile.

"Good." Then he did something that caught everyone in the room off guard. He bowed to me. "Melissa also told us what happened in Scandinavia and how you protected her from the Oni. I bow to you not as an Elder, but as her grandfather. Thank you for protecting my granddaughter...Pierce." I smiled widely.

"Any time old man."

Fusao huffed goodnaturedly before standing straight and walked to the door, Melissa's parents following right behind him. I grinned at a blushing Melissa. I stood up and walked to her. "A bit dramatic?" Her face turned redder at my teasing tone. "Too honest for his own good?" She started to squirm when I got closer. "I'll give you hypocritical but I'm kind of hurt from the reckless part."

"B-But I didn't mean anything by the-" She never got to finish as I pulled her into a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"I'm glad I met you too Melissa." The Shadow Yokai was stunned in place before wrapping her arms around my waist.

"Me too..."

We didn't separate until much later. We walked out the room holding hands and she nodded down the hall.

"D-Do you want to come to my room?" Melissa acted like she was a teen asking the boy she likes into her room for the first time.

"Yes please." And I was loving every second of it. She started pulling me down the hall and we were half way down before one of the doors opened.

"Well, it's pretty late. I think it's about time we wrap this up." Fusao, coming from out the door, looped his arm around our arms and pulled a surprised Melissa to his side. "Ikumi will help you to your current lodgings." The Head Elder pointed to my left and I turned to see a tall maid standing next to me (I didn't even sense her approach).

"W-Wait, what are-"

"Now come my dear, I will accompany you to your room. I haven't had the chance to hear the adventures you've had since you were gone for most of the week." He put on the gentle smile of a kind grandpa while leading a confused Melissa down the hall and turned back to look at me. "Have a pleasant night...Pierce." The sly look in his eye as he turned the corner left me in shock.

"I will take you to your room now, please follow me." Ikumi said in a polite tone but I didn't react and continued to stare at where Fusao left with Melissa.

'...Oh it is on you shitty old man...' That was all that went through my mind as Ikumi dragged me to my room, Jade sleepily following along.

* * *

And done. Pierce arrives in Melissa's homeland and gives a rounding first impression, to no one's surprise. He faces his greatest hurdle yet!...Overprotective Grandfathers, may Ichiei have mercy on his soul. Sorry for those who expected a Training Arc but I was personally never a fan of those, you will get one but it won't be in Olympus. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed!

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_**Beta: Fanfiction0000**_


	34. Chapter 33

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**jackx321**: Thank you, I may not have put as much work as should into most of the characters, I still like to think that they are believable enough to pass off as actual people with personalities and emotions. I don't really want to give Pierce a rival mainly because that's just not his character style. He could care less about out doing someone else or striving forward to match a rival.

**axon1456**: I don't have a specific upload schedule. This is a hobby and the chapters get done whenever I feel like writing, which is often but not every day.

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**Chapter 33: One, Weird Festival **

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD but think for a second if I did. Would this story ever be created if I did? Would someone else think of it and write it? Or would it be never see the light of day because I would be too busy spending the money I get from DxD sells and royalties? The world may never know…Oh yeah, I own the OCs. On to the chapter!

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – _'Neat'_

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

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**2 Days Later**

If there was single there I have come to appreciate since reincarnating into a new world, it's the fact I can wake up in the morning and do whatever the hell I want for the remainder of the day. No school, no job, no real responsibilities to handle as I wake my groggy consciousness from the sweet abyss that is sleep. …I like waking up and having lots of free time, okay? It's awesome. (Besides the task my parents gave me to do around the house when I was younger anyway).

'And with Chi, those physical tasks were usually done in a heartbeat.' I commented internally as I sat up from the bed and stretched. Sure you can say being on an emissary team is a responsibility but it's still my choice to do it. Sighing in contentment at the multiple pops coming from my joints, I idly looked around to my lodgings that I've slept in for the past three days. It was a large room with tatami mat flooring, multiple diving panels, a living room that connected to a kitchen and a small library (it even had its own miniature garden in the backyard). 'They sure know how to take care of their guests, I'll give them that.' I leaned back against the bed frame, approving of the Shadow Leopards hospitality and felt the figure sleeping next to me shift. A mop of lush brown hair was seen as Maven sat up; yawning into her hand as her gaze met mine. "Morning!" She blankly stared at my cheerful greeting before resting her head on my shoulder.

"Morn…ing." Chuckling as she finished that between yawns, I wrapped my arms around her as she snuggled into my embrace (She likes to do that a lot).

"Sleep well?"

"Mostly, I could I done without Jade resting on my face in the middle of the night though." The familiar, who was lying on one side of the mage's pillow, for her part didn't react and just got into a more comfortable position before putting her head down. I smiled at the small stink eye Maven gave Jade.

"Sorry, she does that a lot. I've been trying to break her out of it."

"At least she wasn't in the room like last time." Maven said and I groaned.

"For the love of-that was one time! And I didn't know she was in the room, I thought she went out somewhere to play or something!" I swear you have your rabbit in the same room as you make love one time and they never let you live it down (now that's a life lesson there kids).

"Whatever you're into Pierce, I'm not judging. A little heads up would be nice though." I gave a mock glare at her teasing smile. Our relationship had improved quite a bit over the three months that were spent in the Olympus. Having weeks on end to tutor me in depth on magic history, taking dates around the mythical Greek Heaven, or just talking about her experiences in magic school and my early life adds up pretty quickly (She was really curious on how I learned to use Chi, more than Melissa funnily enough, and was surprised to hear I just stumbled across it one day). I tried to go slow when it came to a physical relationship, partly since we have plenty of time to get to know each other and mainly because I didn't want to want her think I only wanted to be with her for her body. I may be shallow but I care what's on the inside as much as the outside.

'That and if I ever plan for her to met my mom then she's got to be a cut above the rest…God I'm such a mama's boy.' I watched as Maven separated from me and stood up from the bed, her beautiful bare form completely exposed. She, like a lot of women in the supernatural world, wasn't shy when it came to her body and more than once flaunted it to get a reaction out of me. I had no shame to admit that it never failed to. She grabbed two towels from a stand resting on the side and threw me one.

"Come on, it's early but it's better if we get ready now." I nodded at the suggestion and followed Maven into the shower. Freshening up and helping watch each other's back…twice, I left with a wide smile and she shook her head when seeing it.

"You're insatiable you know that?" Maven said while rubbing her hips and I raised a brow.

"Oh really? Funny, I didn't hear any complaints; maybe they were drowned out by your moans-Hey!" Maven's face turned red as she pinched me on the side.

"Jackass."

"Tone-deaf."

"Pervert."

"Now hold on, I 'am no pervert! I just respectfully appreciate the female form."

"…That's exactly what a pervert would say!"

"I rest my case." I kept walking, seeing that I won that argument. I ignored the deadpan Maven was sending my way. We made our way to the main house in the castle, greeting many of the Shadow Leopard maids and soldiers that we passed. We eventually reached the main hall and saw that everyone was already eating.

"Morning." I lazily waved my hand, getting "good mornings" from the team and Melissa's family members.

"Good morning, I was wondering if I had to go wake you guys up." Melissa smiled up at me from her seat, returning the small kiss I gave her.

"What do you mean, I'm always on time…and I forgot to bring my bed from Olympus." Those things were made from dreams I swear. She chuckled and I took a seat, Maven seating down with me.

"Good Morning Pierce-san!" I looked down at the seat next to me, a small girl with short brown locks and a cute face was giving me a cheery smile. I smiled back.

"Morning Himari, you slept well?"

"You bet! I almost didn't because of how excited I was about today but then I realized that'd be counterproductive."

"Yeah, I get what you mean. I always had trouble sleeping the day before a field trip or when my family went on a trip." I said while reaching for some rice and Himari tilted her head in confusion.

"What's a field trip?"

"You know, when you go do something with your class outside the classroom…You guys do have schools here right?" I was pretty sure Melissa mentioned that they had a school to tutor young Shadow Leopards. She confirmed my question but they apparently aren't allowed to bring young Yokais outside the city in fear that they'd attract the wrong attention, either from humans or the supernatural. Yokais were real careful with their younger generation until they reached an age they can go out on their own. "Well, a field trip is basically what it sounds like. You go outside with your class and do something that's either important to the subject your learning or to learn something new. It's quite fun for many students where I come from." Himari's eyes were practically shining by the end of my explanation.

"I want to do that! That sounds awesome! Mom, can my class do something like that!?" The young Shadow Leopard turned towards her mother and jumped up and down in excitement. Himari's mother was a beautiful woman with shoulder length brown hair, a lithe frame and she was always sporting a calm smile. Her name was Jin and she was also a teacher at Himari's school (that must be fun for her).

"While that does sound lovely, I think we should wait after the festival to starting doing these "field trips". Besides, the elders would have to approve it." While that brought her slightly down, Himari quickly perked up and turned back to me.

"What else did you do in your school? You know, besides these field trips?" I smiled at her incredibly curious tone. I couldn't help but like the kid, she took the majority of my jargon and rambles serious even when I'm trying not to be (most people tend to figure out not to take me serious after awhile). I started to talk about other events like holidays, pride events, and pep rallies. I got strange looks when I spoke about ditch day, food fights, and dedicating a whole week to wearing odd outfits.

"Shouldn't you be worried about that?"Adrian asked Himari's mother but she waved her hand.

"Oh it's all in good fun; I doubt he means any of it. He's just entertaining her."

"…" Everyone snuck glances at each other at that and chose to keep eating. Halfway through my explanation on senior prank day, Fusao along Melissa's parents entered the room and greeted us.

"It's still early but it's better if we get there now to set up our section. Is everyone ready?" He got a round of acknowledgments and turned to walk out. We followed the Head Elder out of the castle and I noticed that the city was oddly quiet; the only ones in sight were soldiers or the occasional maid.

'I guess someone has to stay behind and watch the fort.' I thought as we followed Fusao to the center of the grounds and he drew in the air. A Youjutsu spell appeared, enlarging to the side of person and hanged in the air. The Head Elder and Melissa's parents walked through it first, followed by Melissa and Maven. I followed a hyper Himari and her mother through the spell and after a quick flash of colors, found myself in an alley. Slightly confused by our location, I walked towards the exit of the alley and saw a wide street. Countless Japanese people walked along the street with wagons and horses, vendors littered the area and Minkas were the main houses seen. A massive palace rested at the end of the street, protected by high walls and large gate. Melissa smiled at my curious gaze.

"Welcome to the Capital of Japan." She waved her hands to reinforce the point and I heard Vargas awed voice.

"So this is Kyoto…" The Holy Sword User scanned the area with a critical gaze and smirked. "My grandfather was right, it is impressive."

"You've never been here in your travels?" I asked and he shrugged.

"It was never on the way so we didn't bother." Everyone soon arrive through the portal, giving their own thoughts on the capital before following Fusao. The festival was apparently happening in the Kyoto Gyoen, a huge park that surrounds the Imperial Palace. The leader of the Yokais and the Shinto Gods placed a barrier around the grounds that wards away normal people and increase the size of the park (though from what I've heard it wasn't necessary).

"Um, this seems kind of redundant since the Shinto Gods personally put up the barrier but how does the Emperor feel about this?" I asked, curious on how the ruler of Japan felt that his park was being used for a festival (we didn't look up any information on them because they weren't like the Sultans and how they had Froid hiding among them).

"This has been a long standing agreement between the Shinto and the Imperial Family. The leader of the Yokais also lives here and she predates them even, being bonded with the region's Leylines before the Imperial Family was formed." Fusao explained as we walked to the palace and Ren snorted.

"And you try telling the reason you're in power in the first place "no". Amaterasu-sama is kind and patient but she does demand respect."

"…" I chose not to respond to that, remembering my first meeting with the overworked Sun Goddess. We eventually reached the front gate of the palace and was met with a guard. Fusao gave him a scroll and we watched the guard read it before he yelled for the gates to be opened. Giving back the scroll with a quick bow, we walked inside the palace. Lush trees flooded our vision with a tranquil river flowing to the side and a large Torii could be seen down the path. There was nobody around-

"Hey Fusao!" Scratch that. I looked over to see an old burly man walking over; he had short brown hair and a cherry smile. From his dense aura, I could tell he was a Yokai and Fusao bowed in greeting to the man.

"Hello Banri-san, it's good to see you again." Banri laughed.

"Always with the formalities, I wished you'd lightened up a little." Banri turned to us and smiled. "To those that don't know I'm Banri! Me and Fusao go way back so if you need anything just ask."

"Hello uncle Banri." Mayumi bowed to the man. "We just arrived so we haven't the chance to enter the barrier yet." He quirked a brow at that.

"Oh? Then you can come through my gate, my clan is mostly done setting up and we can outfit you all now." We followed Banri to the Torii I saw from earlier and watched as he stepped through it, disappearing. Probing it with Spiritual Energy, I sensed the portal and entered with everyone else.

We found ourselves in front of a large temple; a group of people were standing in front of the entrance. Well…calling them people would be a bit of a stretch. Everyone was sporting a different aspect of a certain animal on their body. One person had the ears and tail of a dog, another had the skin and eyes of a snake. Two people standing guard had the blacks wings and head of a crow, they were wearing hermit clothes.

"You okay there Pierce?" Maven asked as I blankly stared at a group of people sporting fox ears and tails walking out of the temple wearing high end yukatas.

"…Oh what a weeaboo wouldn't do to be in my position."

"…What?"

We were led along by Banri to the temple, taking a side path inside. Like all buildings when it came to magic, it was larger on the inside and a grand hall rested within the temple. Many Yokais were walking around, either stopping at certain stalls that had food or playing games. Banri led us into one of the side halls and we were greeted with a room that had an assortment of clothes. He told us to pick something we liked and to get back to him when we did. We spread out, looking at the options given to us. While there was a number of clothes like suits, noble dresses, and armor to select (I guess there isn't a formal code for the festival); I chose to keep it simple and go for the classic look. Grabbing a black yukata with gray lining, I brought it to Banri and stopped at what I saw. The old man had small round ears on top of his head, fur around his eyes and his nose was now pointed, like a dog.

"You're a Tanuki?" He nodded at my question.

"I am. Have you found the clothes you want to wear?" I handed over the yukata and he nodded in appreciation before calling out. "Bashira!" I watched as a little girl with brown hair and hazel eyes timidly walked up to me, her Tanuki features showing she was one as well.

"P-Please hold s-stil-." Bashira bit her tongue and blushed, hanging her head low in embarrassment. Following her instructions, she waved her hand and sent Youjutsu symbols my way. The symbols landed on my body and covered it a warm glow, fading a second later to show I was wearing an exact copy of the yukata I picked. I rolled my shoulders to find it fit perfectly and Bashira handed me a necklace with a small talisman on it.

"What is this for?" I asked as Bashira retreated behind Banri.

"That is a Wear Stone. That yukata isn't actually made from clothe but from Senjutsu, with a mental command you can disperse and summon it on your person whenever you want." Banri explained that his Tanuki clan was famous for their tailorship, they can create a great number of clothing with Senjutsu and give all their costumers Wear Stones. They can go to any Tanuki tailor to add more clothes and they can also had magical effects to outfits if they're willing to pay a certain price. "Consider that Wear Stone free of charge since you're with Fusao but the next one you'll have to pay. I got to make a living too you know!" Banri laughed and I nodded in understanding. Everyone soon finished their shopping and we exited the Tanuki temple, Fusao promising to meet up with Banri later.

"What do you think?" Melissa asked as she twirled around, showing off her own outfit. The Shadow Yokai chose to wear a red and gold kimono while Maven wore a black yukata similar to mine. I shamelessly marveled at how both outfits accentuated the great figures of both women.

"10/10!" They chuckled at my honest answer and I gave an amused smile to Vargas, who was gazing in awe at the light blue kimono Samantha was wearing. "Careful, you just go that outfit. You don't want to smear it with drool already."

"Shut up…"

"Come along." The Head Elder said and we followed him to a Grand Shrine in the middle of the park, countless number of Yokai slowly filing in. The inside was like an auditorium (besides the seats) with a podium in the center. Standing near the back while Melissa's parents and grandfather walked to the podium, the lights started to dim. A woman walked up on top of the podium and the crowd of rowdy Yokais slowly got silent. The woman was incredibly beautiful. She had light brown hair that reached her lower back, a gorgeous figure that was hidden by her Miko outfit and shining gold eyes. I glanced at her fox ears before pausing on her tails. All nine of them.

"That's the leader of the Yokais and matriarch of the Kitsunes, Kyūkan." Melissa quietly revealed who the woman was and I answered with a small nod. Kyūkan started to give a speech on her gratitude on everyone's arrival and the pride she felt on the unity of the Yokai faction. Not being able to hold my curiosity, I activated Chi Vision to see what the Yokai Leader was packing and was floored by what I saw. Her Chi was massive, that I was already expecting. It's what her reserves are connected to that made me pause. Everything. It was connected to every person, every brick; hell every inch of dirt in and outside this Shrine.

'Leylines.' Remembering what I knew from canon, Yasaka was connected to the "spiritual power" flowing from all of Kyoto and used it to gain a near limitless amount of energy. 'There must be a catch to that…right?' I mean really, the amount of energy at her disposal in theory surpasses the amount Chief Gods like Zeus and Odin could wield at a time. I was so busy trying to figure out how something like that works that I almost missed "their" introduction.

"Joining us for the 13th festival since the unification of the Yokais and our patron protectors, the Shinto Gods!" Kyūkan finished speaking and a miniature sun appeared behind her, illuminating the now dark Shrine. Squinting my eyes because the light, it soon faded to reveal four beings now standing next to the leader of the Yokais. Smiling at the seeing the Sun Goddess and her advisor again, I observed the two other Shinto Gods. One was a graceful looking young woman with blond hair, black eyes and was wearing a high end kimono. The other was a towering man with a full beard, a rugged face and a long nose.

"Who are those two?" I asked Melissa and she looked at the one's mentioned.

"She is the Shinto Goddess of Fertility and Prosperity, Inari. He's the leader of the Earthly Kami, Sarutahiko. They're both Principle Kami." I heard Aindrea snort.

"What a flamboyant introduction, the Shinto really don't know subtly." I gave the Olympian Demigod a blank look.

"Because having a mountain that reaches out into space is subtle?"

"At least it serves a function."

"A function that now endangers the kingdom they've built on top of it which by the way is a very big hindsight."

"…"

"Don't give up so fast now, that's no fun-"

"Shhh!" Adrian shushed my retort, forcing us to focus back on the event. Amaterasu stepped forward and smiled out into the crowd.

"I've very glad to be here once again, every festival brings me joy to see that peace between factions is possible and the celebration that comes from it shows that it's worth the work to make it so. I still remember the age of discord; of the years spend bringing the leaders of different Yokai clans together to build a true land where Yokai can be in peace…It's unfortunate that it still isn't so." The Sun Goddesses' words through the crowd for a loop and murmuring started to spread. That did little to shake Amaterasu however. "There are still Yokais out there that can't rely on anyone but themselves to protect their families and clan. Some still prey on other Yokais for their powers like their animals…some have no choice but become animals to survive." The murmuring stopped. "We've failed those Yokai." The mood of the room became somber as she finished and Amaterasu took a deep breath. "But that's why we celebrate right? To appreciate what we've accomplished, to show that promises of peace weren't empty and that they came true. This a time to be happy with all those that fought for peace and not let what could be weigh on our minds."

Even without my sensing powers, I could see the mood of the crowd visibly increase and watched as Amaterasu's smile became a full blown grin.

"So drink, play, fight even for this is a time for of celebration. When it's all over we go back to work and once every Yokai has a place to call their own…then three days just seems a bit too short, don't you think?"

The Shrine shook. I laughed heartily as every Yokai in the room cheered from the Sun Goddesses words and smirked over to a dumb struck Aindrea.

"That subtle enough for you?" My smirk stayed even as the Demigod glared at me before he turned away with a huff. He would forever deny the respectful look that came onto his face that day. Kyūkan stepped forward and stood next to Amaterasu, a proud smile on her face.

"Let the Yokai Festival Begin!"

The Shrine's shaking this time was just as profound as the first time.

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**5 Hours Later, Shadow Leopard Temple**

I zoomed by multiple tables, setting down plates of food for the customers to eat and made a full circle back to the stand. Melissa was hard at work accepting new Yokais into the restaurant and sending them to their respective seats.

"Shadōsutēki for table 3, Shadōpōku for table 12 and a Shadōunagi and Shadōribu for table 9!" Ren's voice came from the back and dishes appeared on the table. I scooped them up with both hands and moved to give them to the respective customers. Finishing with the first two tables, I set down the last dishes in front of Banri and Bashira.

"Thanks kid." He said and the younger Tanuki also gave a timid thanks.

"No sweat." I petted the young girl on her head with a fond smile. "Ren said this was on the house for helping us with our outfits." Banri grinned.

"Well don't mind if I do." The elder Tanuki digged in and I was called when there were more dishes to give out. Balancing the dishes on two hands like a master waiter, I got to all the customers seating down and came to see even more arrive.

"Damn this place is popular; your dad sure knows how to cook." I said while leaning against the counter, Melissa organizing the money given by the patrons.

"Yeah, he's never been good at combat or leadership so he branched out and found his talent in cooking. In my entire clan's existence, we never knew Shadow Beasts could be cooked and eaten until he tried it!" Melissa gave a proud smile to her father's accomplishment. Apparently, he got in trouble the first time he showed the Elders what he's done and they threatened to kick him out for such disrespect…until they tried it and fell in love with the food.

'I just wish it didn't look like crap.' I stared down at a dish made from a boar found in the Shadow Zone, the meat blackened like coal and shadow smoke coming out of it (It tasted great, make no mistake, it just looked weird as hell).

"Watch your head." Maven's voice rang out, making me slightly duck as the mage floated over my head with a hoard of dirty dishes. They entered the kitchen to be washed and more dishes came out to be delivered so I got to work. Another hour of this passed until the rush died down and the numbers became manageable by the other Shadow Leopards. Melissa spoke a little to her father before walking over to Maven and I.

"Thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it." She smiled in gratitude and Maven waved her hand nonchalantly as mine were rubbing her shoulders.

"It was…no problem…happy to he-ah that's the spot." Maven sighed in contentment as I gave my patent Chi massage, working out the kinks in her lower back. While the mage mainly used telekinesis and flight to help out, she still moved around for a couple of hours. She didn't have enhanced stamina so I said yes to giving her a massage (not that I would ever say no). Melissa was stuck helping her father with the first rush as she was still being punished and we offered to help until it was over. Adrian and the others offered to help but Melissa didn't want to hold back everyone from the festival. Ren came from the back and patted us on the back.

"Well done, we're usually swamped until the first day is over but thanks to you all, we finished in record time! Thank you."

"It was no trouble, but can we…" Ren laughed at the obvious message I was trying to make.

"Go ahead, you've earned it. You too Melissa." The Shadow Leopard in question practically jumped in joy.

"Does that mean I'm finally fre-I mean, not punished?"

"Yes, I think you've been tortured enough. I'll speak with your mother so go have fun-" Ren didn't get to finish as Melissa hugged him tight and gave him a big kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks dad, you're the best!" Melissa then grabbed both of us by the arms and dragged us to the entrance.

"I still expect you to help tomorrow! Hey! Do you hear m- Melissa!" Ren's words became fainter as we covered more ground and soon, the temple was far in the distance. It was already night time by the time we finished, the busy streets illuminated by lanterns and fire stands. Melissa didn't waste time and hopped to different stands left and right, buying anything she could. Not even 10 minutes passed before she returned with a bunch of food, candies and a hat that made her look like a Kappa. I watched in amusement as she munched on her snacks without a hint of shame.

"…Are you going to share any of that?" She stopped for a second to give me a long look before resuming her feast. Yeah, I thought not. I looked around at the waves of Yokai passing us on the street and asked. "So what are we doing first?" If Melissa's face wasn't covered with food from her reckless eating then I probably would have taken her serious.

"You guys are going to love this." We followed the Shadow Leopard through the streets of the festival, walking by multiple large temples before reaching one that was densely packed. Large groups of Yokai were waiting at the entrance of the temple, two women kneeling at both ends of the door. I noticed in surprise how both women had cat ears and two tails swaying softly behind them.

"Nekomatas?" I said and Melissa nodded in confirmation.

"This is their temple. I came here every Yokai Festival and their performances are a highlight every time."

"What do they do?" Maven asked as both Nekomata's stood up and grabbed both handles of the door before opening them.

"You'll see."

Choosing to stay oddly cryptic on the matter, we followed the crowd into the now open temple and took seats into what looked like a show. The stage was massive, taking up half a football field in size (the same could be said for the seats) and we took some seats in the middle. It took a couple of minutes for the crowd to settle down and when they did, lights appeared on the stage. A tall beautiful woman with black hair and a white kimono walked out. She was a Nekomata if her cat ears were any indicator and she bowed to the crowd.

"Welcome to the Nekomata Temple. Thank you all for coming to our humble show; I hope you enjoy it and the rest of the festival afterwards." Giving few words, the Yokai stepped off the stage and we waited for it to start. We didn't wait long before another group of young Nekomata's came onto the stage and stood at the ready. The leading Nekomata shot her hand up and a wisp of white flames came out, the other Nekomata's following suit. The white flames were bright, illuminating the purposely dark stage and I watched as they turned into different sized cats. The cats landed next to their respective women and after giving a show of acknowledgement they…started to dance.

I watched in wonder as the cats made from ethereal flames moved along with their dance, peaceful music coming from an unknown source. The dance of the Nekomatas became faster as time passed, along with the music. The cats soon started move erratically and some seemed to be swinging at the women yet they continued to dance, dodging every "attack" gracefully. They didn't stay in one spot either; they traveled across the stage and never made connect with another dancer, fluidly dancing around another. More than once did they change partners, swapping different sized cats and adapting to a new dance style.

"…" The entire crowd was silent as the dance seemed to reach its climax; the Nekomata's dancing in a circle and the cats slowly closing in on them. Then, they leaped at the dancers and just as they were apart to collide with them, the cats turned into white flames once again. They gathered their hands together and the flames gathered in a huge ball above them. Then it exploded and went outwards into the crowd. I frowned and started to draw on my Chi, intending to cover us in a dome but Melissa's hand grabbed my arm. I glanced over to see her giving me a look that said "it's okay". I stared for a second before I let my Chi die down and allowed the white flames to overtake us.

As much as I trusted Melissa, I still braced myself for the burning but it never came. What did come was an overwhelming feeling of calm. The flames wrapped around me, encasing my body in a warm blanket and I could feel what little fatigue I had slip away. Happy memories flew through my mind; spending time with my parents, meeting the team, going on all kinds of odd adventures, learning new abilities and spells, etc. A smile made its way onto my face as old memories I had from my past life also slipped their way from the deep and the whites flames receded. The crowd was also in a state of bliss, quietly basking in the sensation given by the purifying flames. I internally chuckled as Maven and Melissa were sprawled on their chairs, looking completely content. The Nekomatas bowed to the crowd before walking away.

I clapped. It traveled more than it should because of the complete silence and woke some Yokais from their daze but I kept clapping. I was alone in my show of appreciation for the show but that got the dancers to stop nonetheless and soon, another person joined my clapping. Like a domino affect, the entire crowd was soon clapping and some even yelled praises and thank yous. The Nekomatas looked at each other before smiling and bowing at the crowd once again.

The applause only got louder. Watching the dancers leave, we got up from our seats and made our way out the temple. Melissa gave us a victorious smirk.

"So was I right? Or was I right?" I rolled my eyes at her antics and Maven pinched her cheek.

"Alright miss I know everything, what else you got?" I asked, excited for the next thing and Melissa made a confused expression before turning to Maven.

"Maven, you've been here before? I had no ide-" The Shadow Leopard laughed as she dodged the mage's staff.

"You're both jerks!" Our laughing didn't help the reddening of the mage's face. Melissa started taking us to all the temples she remembered from the childhood, stopping here and there to enjoy the smaller stands. She took us to multiple temples, one was the Tenju Temple which was pretty much a valley inside that has Tenju flying around and singing stories. Another was the Kodama Temple that many small, mouse like Yokais running around and catching one gives you a prize. After exiting the Yamachichi Temple, Yokai who were famed dentist (go figure that) I realized something.

'No wonder this festival is three days and three nights long, you couldn't go through half of it without that much time.' Even after spending three hours exploring the park, we've only gotten through four temples. From what Melissa said, there were dozens of them and some were so big that it was practically another city in them. 'Though she said those are run by noble Yokai clans so they should be rare.' I idly thought as the girls were standing in front of an Ungaikyo, a mirror like Yokai that shows the past of someone related to you. I passed a stand that had a Yokai that looked like a blacksmith before Tyrfing spoke up.

'_Hey Pierce, wait a minute.' _I stopped and looked down at my space ring. _'Can you take a look at those oils?'_

'_Oh not this shit again…' _Dainslef groaned and I wryly smiled, agreeing with the Demon Sword. Like any good sword owner, I maintained weapons and polished then regularly. I've done that to the sword Dylan gave me all those years ago and that extended to my current Demon Swords. I do it pretty well, using high end oils and techniques. Dáinsleif doesn't care what I use when it comes to cleaning him as long as I did a good job but Tyrfing is another story. The guy/sword is very selective on how I polish him and what oils to use. He's the pickiest sword I've ever met (it took me asking Athena for some sword oil from Hephaestus to shut him up). The blacksmith Yokai didn't react as I looked over his items and picked up one of the vials.

"May I?" Asking for permission, the man nodded and I took out Tyrfing. Dipping a single drop on the Demon Sword, I rubbed it along the surface and it hummed.

'_Ohhhh, that's not bad. Nothing like that Smith God's stuff but not bad.' _Tyrfing seemed to like it so I bought a couple of vials from the Yokai, who was staring at me heavily as I placed Tyrfing back in my space ring. Ignoring the greedy aura rolling off the Yokai, I walked back to the girls.

'_Hey, can I get some of that?'_ Dáinsleif asked but Tyrfing humphed.

'_No. Buy your own.' _

'_Wh-you didn't even buy them!'_

'_But I did ask.' _Tyfring said righteously and Dáinsleif cursed. Leaving the two swords to bicker, I saw a massive shrine at the end of the street. It had tall walls surrounding the shrine like a castle and many Yokais avoided getting close.

"That's the Shrine the Shinto Gods are currently residing in." Melissa followed my gaze and explained what the shrine was for.

"So Amaterasu is in there?"

"…Pierce, no." Melissa deadpanned and I gave her a confused look. "I know what you're thinking and no."

"What? What am I thinking?"

"We are not going to bother the Chief Goddess of the Shinto Gods Pierce." They both said at the same and I pouted.

"Oh come on, I just want to go say hello. It couldn't hurt."

* * *

**5 minutes later**

'Okay, that kind of hurt a little.' I rubbed my head as the gates to the shrine slammed shut, leaving me to walk back to the girls in shame.

"I didn't know what you expected, meeting Amaterasu-sama like you did before was an incredibly lucky chance." Melissa said while shaking her head and I groaned. All attempts I made to enter the shrine were blocked by the guards of the Shinto Gods. They said the Gods, especially Amaterasu, were busy organizing events to come for the following days and couldn't be bothered. They gave me a waiting list to know when I could meet her but with how long it was I'm pretty sure the festival would end long before I get my chance.

"So what do you want to do now?" Maven asked while I observed the high walls of the shrine, seeing how easy they were to scale. The only problem was… "Pierce, I taught you magic and unless I did a piss poor job, there's no way you didn't notice that barrier."

"I see it." I grumbled. The shrine was protected by a dense and powerful barrier, easily within the same league as the ones used on Olympus. My magic has gotten much better these last couple of months but God made barriers were still beyond me.

"…But that's not going to stop you is it?" The mage sighed at my grin. "So what's your plan?"

"I'm working on it." I walked around the wall, noticing every nook and cranny that could be used to get inside. Finding nothing I could use, I refocused on the barrier and found something interesting. It had a strong, sunlight attribute to it. 'So Amaterasu put it up huh?' I walked closer to the walls and placed a hand on it, feeling a warm wall pushing it back.

Then the sigil on my forearm glowed. Before I could think on what that could mean, the feeling of resistance disappeared and my hand came in contact with the wall. Blinking as I felt around for the barrier, I took a step forward and placed both hands on the wall.

Then I jumped up. Landing on the high wall, I looked back at the two shocked girls and wildly smirked. Seeing if they could join me through the barrier if I was holding them, it didn't work and I had to go in alone. I laughed at their worried faces.

"Oh don't worry, I'm just going to say hi and come right back. I promise." Giving one last goodbye, I hopped down from the wall and landed on the front grounds. Hiding behind a small shack near the gate, I activated Chi Vision and scanned the Shrine/castle for my target. It wasn't hard when I felt the massive aura in the shape of a blazing sun. 'Damn and I thought Apollon's aura was impressive.' Amaterasu's aura was even brighter then the Olympian Sun God's. Coating myself in Touki, I ran across the grounds. Muffling my feet as best I could, it seemed to work as any guard I came close to didn't hear me. While I would comment on the lack of skill these guards had, I remembered who they were "guarding" and chose to keep going (actually, if a being that could threaten the Shinto Gods arrives then it's the guards that would need protecting). Jumping over a platoon of guards doing patrols, I landed on the roof of a building and saw my target.

'So that's where she's at.' I watched the large shrine in interest. It was the shrine I saw from the outside and I could feel Amaterasu's aura at the very top. It had another, separate barrier surrounding it and it felt different from the one protecting the walls. It was a mixture of different attributes, not just sunlight. I rubbed my chin in thought. 'That may be a problem.' I didn't know if my sigil could get me through that barrier since the Sun Goddess had help making it (probably). '…Oh well, no time like the-'

"Who are you?" A child like voice rang out to my left, causing me to jump slightly and turn to the voice. I came to face to face with a young girl. She had long blond hair done in a ponytail, yellow pupils and a very pretty face. She was wearing a yellow shrine maiden outfit. Surprised since I didn't sense her coming close, I saw that she was waiting patiently for an answer and cleared my throat.

"Hi, I'm Pierce. Your friendly neighborhood roof walker." I outstretched my hand but she didn't take it, choosing to observe me. "This is usually the part where you give your name." Que more staring. She did nothing for a second so I looked back to the Shrine and thought on my next course of action.

"So you're Pierce-san…" The girl finally said something and I quirked a brow.

"You've heard of me?"

"Something like that." The girl vaguely answered and turned to look at the shrine. "Are looking for Amaterasu-sama?"

"I am, it's just…I didn't get here the normal way."

"You sneaked in?" She asked bluntly and I nodded. "…What do you want with the Chief Goddess?" I shrugged and spoke honestly.

"I was going to say hello and ask if she wanted to go join the festival. Seemed kind of weird to come to a festival and not take part." And knowing that overworked Goddess, she probably really wants to. The young girl stared me up and down for a minute before turning around.

"Follow me." Not giving me a chance to refuse, she jumped down from the roof and I followed after her. Following the deceptively fast girl, we made it to the back of the shrine and she beckoned me to a sliding panel. Opening it, I saw a pathway that led up and the girl went up first. It was a tight squeeze but I eventually reached the top and came to an attic like space. I had to hunch down to get to the middle of the room and girl was waiting there, pointing to a hole in the floor. I didn't need to look through it to know who was below us.

'Well that was convenient.' I peeked through the hole to see the sitting form of the Sun Goddess of the Shinto Pantheon. Amaterasu was sitting behind a desk, the entirety of it covered in sheets of paper and the Goddess of rifling through them. Noticing that the panel was detachable, I took it off from its place and moved it aside. I stuck my head through the ceiling and observed the room. It was a typical noble's room with tasteful furniture, a large bed and a beautiful patio that had a great view of the festival below. Amaterasu's gaze never left the pile of papers on her desk.

"Pst."

"…"

"Psst."

"…"

"Psssttt!"

"…" She flipped a page over.

'Oh for the love of-' "Hey!" I yelled, hanging half my body out of the ceiling and she sighed.

"I heard you the first time." Amaterasu deadpanned and I huffed.

"Then answer the first time." I jumped to the floor, Amaterasu smiling in amusement as she stared up at the ceiling.

"Are you coming down or are you going to stay up there?" A minute passed of nothing before the blond girl jumped down as well, an embarrassed expression on her face.

"Hello Amaterasu-sama." The girl bowed to the Sun Goddess but she crossed her arms in response.

"What are you doing out of your room Yasaka? I believe your mother said you were to stay there until she said so." Amaterasu scolded the young Kitsune on her course of actions, leaving me to process what I just heard. The image of an incredibly beautiful and busty woman overlapped with the young girl in front of me. One thought came to my mind.

'Issei you lucky son of a bitch.' He's going to have not one, but two sexy nine tailed foxes in his harem. My envy became even stronger when I saw how the young Yasaka in front of me was as flat as her future daughter, signifying Kunou's guaranteed "potential".

"Pierce?" Amaterasu called out to me, bringing me back from the sea of envy. Yasaka was now kneeling on the side, looking guilty. "What did you want?"

"Oh not much, just came to say hi and ask how things are."

"Why didn't you pray at one of my shrines for that?" Amaterasu quirked a brow and I blinked.

"...You know, even if I had thought of that, I probably wouldn't have done it."

"Why not?"

"That sounds too easy. Imagine if people learned I took the easy way out, my reputation wouldn't survive!" The Sun Goddess chuckled and Yasaka tilted her head.

"What kind of reputation is that?"

"One I worked hard for."

_'No, he really didn't.' _Dáinsleif commented.

"You stay quiet!" Amaterasu shook her head at my antics and how Yasaka asked who that was. Saying "that was one of the voices in my head" didn't clear her confusion.

"I've been fine Pierce, thank you for asking. Nothing been's really happening in Heaven since the whole thing with Shiruku; besides the usual." Her eyes became sadder as she looked at me. "I also heard from Athena about your brush with Shuten, I'm glad you're okay."

"She told me, thanks for asking." Athena told me long ago about the Sun Goddesses concern, that was one the main reasons I thought to come say hello. We settled in a comfortable silence before I turned around. "Alright, let's go."

"You're leaving already?" Amaterasu asked, her tone indicating she wanted me to stay a little longer but I gave her a strange look instead.

"Yeah..._we_ are leaving." The Sun Goddess furrowed her brows at my word play before she got it. She shook her head.

"I wish I could Pierce but I got work to do." She lifted the papers in her hand to make the point across and I walked around the desk. I picked one of the papers up.

"Permission to host a Sumo tournament from the Kappas, needing guards for the noble Yokai center, daily trimming for the Onikumas...really?" I deadpanned and Amaterasu gave a wry smile.

"I can't join the festival until I've answered every form, it's the job." From how high the stacks of papers were, she'll be lucky to be finished by the second day. I grabbed the Sun Goddess by her shoulders and gently placed her to the side. Under the confused gazes of Amaterasu and Yasaka, I picked up her ink pen. My hands became blurs as they filtered through the papers and staring giving random answers to all the questions. Losing count of how many "yes", "no", and "hell no" I gave, the last paper was neatly placed in the person high pile. Dusting my hands, I turned to Amaterasu with a satisfied face.

"Shall we?" The Sun Goddess blankly stared at me, then at the papers before returning to me.

"...Okay." Yasaka did a double take.

"Good woman!" I grinned and turned to the young kitsune. "You want to come along?" Yasaka perked up at that before giving Amaterasu a nervous look.

"Can I?" The Sun Goddess shrugged.

"I'm not your mom, you can do what you want. She will be pissed though." That didn't faze Yasaka as she cheered and walked with us to the entrance. Sensing a pair of guards on the other side, I jumped up to the hole in the ceiling and waited for them to join me before closing it. We took the tunnel all the way down and came out where we originally entered. I stopped and turned to Amaterasu when I realized something important.

"Wait, aren't you in control of this shrine?"

"I am."

"So can't you just teleport us outside?"

"I could."

"..."

"..."

"...Hm." Seeing she made no move to do so, I turned around and started to lead the way back to the others.

I selectively ignored the mischievous giggles coming from behind me.

* * *

**Outside the Shrine**

Melissa stared at the walls of shrine, munching on a small pie as Maven read a scroll on the history of Yokai culture. They've been waiting for the past 10 minutes for Pierce to return and the worry she had from earlier started to resurface. Melissa peeked over to the mage when she lightly bumped her shoulder.

"Stop worrying so much, it makes me nervous too."

"I'm not worried." Melissa argued but Maven gave her a blank look.

"Melissa, that's the third apple pie you've bought from that toad Yokai and you don't even like apple pie." The Shadow Leopard stared down at the pie in her hand and realized she was right, it sucked. "If he was in trouble then there would have been some sort of commotion. Even if he does get caught he's personally met Amaterasu, she'll get him out of trouble if there is any." Melissa thought on the sound logic and relaxed, seeing how little danger Pierce could be in. She gave Maven a smirk.

"I guess we're one for one now, I got you next time your worried over something dumb Pierce does." The mage snorted.

"That won't take long." Melissa laughed. The Shadow Yokai observed the Shrine for a second before turning back to Maven.

"So you really don't think Pierce will reach Amaterasu?"

"Oh, I have no doubt he'll be able to meet her but there's now way he'll be able to convince her to join us. She's the Chief Goddess of a pantheon and one of the main organizers of the whole festival. She has to be pretty busy." Maven gave a perfectly logical argument and Melissa smiled in response.

"You want to bet on money on that?" Maven made an odd expression.

"Melissa, Pierce has done some pretty out of the ordinary things but I think he's met his match here."

"I'm not hearing a no."

"...What are we betting?"

"If I win, you have to take over my shift tomorrow with my dad. If you win, I'll give you two bottles of that sake my uncles makes." Melissa offered, remembering the mage's reaction to her uncles special brew. Maven's eyes brightened.

"Dea-" Before she could shake on it Pierce hopped over the wall and walked towards them. Two more people in tow. One was a young girl with blond hair, a yellow kimono and regal eyebrows. The other was one they've seen earlier today at the beginning of the festival. Both woman gaped at the Shinto's Chief Goddess walking up to them, bowing shortly after.

"Hello there, you must be Maven-san and Melissa-san? It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Hi, I'm Yasaka!" The young girl gave a cheerful but equally respectful greeting.

"..." Pierce chuckled at their shocked state.

"Well come on, let's go." He started walking back to the main road, Yasaka and Amaterasu following right behind him. Maven and Melissa watched them walk away in silence.

"...Maven."

"...Yeah?"

"The restaurant opens at 7:30 tomorrow."

The Shadow Yokai's laugh as Maven tried to glare a hole through her smiling face echoed throughout the noisy festival.

* * *

And done. With the first day of fun and relaxation over, Maven learns a valuable lesson; there's nothing too stupid that Pierce can't accomplish. I hope you enjoyed!


	35. Chapter 34

_**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**_

* * *

**Chapter 34: Nine Crowns, Five Families, and One Big Head **

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD which by the way, stopping being about highschool long before the peace treaty of the Three Powers. I own the OCs and they thankfully don't need to deal with the horrors that are the gathering of pre-pubescent and homework. Oh the homework…

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – _'Neat'_

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Five Minutes before Pierce arrived, Upper Level of the Grand Shrine**

A waiting room rested a single floor below the office of the Sun Goddess of the Shinto. It was beautiful with tasteful painting strung up on the walls, depicting important moments in Shinto history and an artificial pond with two Koi fish swimming peacefully. Kyūkan and Inari were currently sitting on the waiting chairs. The nine tailed fox stirred the tea calmly, allowing a moment for the leaves within to fully soak into the water before handing it to Inari. The Goddess gave thanks to the Yokai leader and took a sip. Kyūkan waited nervously as her patron closed her eyes, sampling the tea before opening them with a smile.

"Perfect as always. I see you haven't lost your touch." Inari complemented, causing Kyūkan to sigh in relief.

"Thank you Inari-sama." The Yokai leader bowed while Inari took a couple more sips, the Goddess humming all the while.

"I should be thanking you, having quality tea like this after a long day is exactly what I needed. It is a shame though. I still remember that little kitsune that used to follow me around and have me taste her tea to see if it was any good. You learned too quickly, I couldn't properly enjoy your cuteness."

"Inari-sama…" Kyūkan blushed in embarrassment at the Goddess's words, Inari never noticing because she was too busy reminiscing on simpler times.

'Why is it always the cute ones that grow up so fast? That probably explains why Raijin never grows up.' Inari snorted at the thought of her annoying sibling and turned her gaze to Kyūkan. She placed down her cup. "So what's the matter?"

"What do you mean?" Inari rolled her eyes at the answer.

"Something's been bothering you since the start of the festival and as much as I'd like to believe you called me to make some great tea, I know you better than that. So spill."

"…" Kyukan stayed silent but Inari didn't care, patiently waiting her to speak with crossed legs. The nine tailed kitsune eventually buckled and sighed. "…It's Nurarihyon." The Goddess frowned.

"What does that gourd geezer want?" Inari of course knew about Nurarihyon, the self proclaimed leader of the "Eastern Faction." The reason she say's self proclaimed is because the majority of the Yokais in his faction were newly made Yokai groups that had no ancestry to older Yokais. The only reason they haven't been assimilated into Kyūkan's faction was because of Nurarihyon's influence and the Shinto God's don't want to force them to join, wanting them to join of their own choice. Safe to say that hasn't been going well.

"Nothing, that's the problem. Every festival he's either challenging my position for the right to rule or absorbing the freer willed Yokais into his faction. But he's been quiet since the festival started. I don't like it." Kyūkan knew her rival leader. He was opportunistic and parasitic, using the Shinto God's soft spot for Yokais to his advantage. While it was widely known that the higher ups like Amaterasu, Inari, and Susanoo backed Kyūkan's reign; they still couldn't deny Nurarihyon's "rule", however small it was. Inari fell into thought, pondering on the elder Yokai's actions.

"Well from my knowledge, he hasn't come to us for help in taking over. Has any of your Yokai clans noticed some odd moments?"

"No." Kyūkan shook her head. "Which is also worrying, he always tries to talk up the older clans to assimilate them but he hasn't attempted that either."

"Then I have no idea. I could try asking Omoikane to see if any of his spies has found anything but he's currently doing rounds." The Goddess stood up and motioned with her hand. "Come, let's go meet with Amaterasu. She may have something." Giving a nod at the suggestion, the nine tailed fox followed after Inari. Passing a couple of guards (who, in Inari's opinion, exaggeratedly bowed) they reached the next floor and walked to Amaterasu's office. They entered the office and immediately noticed something. The very severe lack of one Sun Goddess. They both frowned at the odd sight.

"Is she taking a shower?" Kyūkan asked, probing out with her Chi but couldn't sense Amaterasu in the bathroom. Inari reached the desk and was shocked to see the neat pile of papers, the same papers that usually keeps Amaterasu busy for days every festival. The Goddess never understood why her chief personally handles the bulk of the leg work when it came to the festival. More than once Inari asked if she wanted help but the Sun Goddess always refuses, something about her being enough.

'If you were enough then you wouldn't have to spend the last night of the festival sleeping.' Amaterasu's kindness and fondness for the Yokai's was too much some times. Inari noticed a small slip of paper resting in the middle of the desk and curiously picked it up.

"What is that?" Kyūkan asked when Inari stared at the paper blankly. Inari didn't react for a second before turning the paper to the kitsune and allowed her to see what was on it. Kyūkan leaned forward to get a better look.

Went out to lunch, be back in a couple hours – Love Amaterasu.

P.S. Don't let Omoikane see those papers, he'll go crazy.

P.P.S. Actually let him see it, it'll be great – Love the Trolling Mercenary

"…"

"…"

"…Huh?"

* * *

**Back to the Present**

I walked down the busy streets of the festival, lagging a little behind the rest as they moved from stall to stall. Melissa and Yasaka immediately hit it off, the small kitsune's excitable attitude matching the Shadow Yokais. While I found it funny how different she was in the future compared to now, I guess 400 years can really mellow a person out. Maven was oddly down for some reason and any time I asked she just said it was her own fault. I got really curious when she started murmuring about "rigged gambling" and "ridiculous boyfriends". The second one was obvious but the first one had me stumped.

"What do these do?" I glanced over to see Amaterasu speaking to a Yokai that looked like an old woman. The Yokai smiled and waved her hands at the seeds on the table. One seed sprouted into a flower and it bloomed, revealing a small wisp like creature. The wisp took the form of a bird, flying around Amaterasu head before landing back on the flower.

"These are Yamauba flowers. They give birth to small spirits and they fill your home with light and warmth during the nights." The Yokai pitched the seeds to the Sun Goddess and she looked at them in interest.

"How much?"

"1 silver coin for a batch." Finding the deal reasonable, Amaterasu went to rub her space ring but stopped to blush. I noticed and gave her an odd look.

"…You don't have any money on you, do you?" I sighed at her embarrassed expression. Taking out a silver coin, I gave it to the old woman and she handed over a bag of seeds.

"The seeds still need to be planted in good soil and watered regularly to keep alive or else the spirits fly away to find a new one." Nodding at the advice, I walked away with Amaterasu and gave her the bag.

"I'm sorry about making you pay, I forgot." She bowed her head but I waved away her concerns.

"It's not like I gave you a heads up before I arrived." Being a literal Goddess and a chief one at that, I bet Amaterasu doesn't remember the last time she actually needed to pay for something. "So how does it feel being amongst the "commoner's" now?" I said, smirking at Amaterasu's snort.

"I have been a part of the festival before Pierce. It's just I've always been busy and it's only until the last day that I can join. By that point, I mainly went to the noble temples and even then, I'm followed around by a bunch of Yokai elders and higher ups. I could never get a second to enjoy myself." I nodded understandingly at the Sun Goddesses' blight.

"Well, I highly doubt you'll need to deal with that now." I commented and she agreed, looking down at her new form. Maven, after getting over her stupor that the Chief Goddess was going to join us, brought up a very good point. No matter where Amaterasu goes, she's going to be recognized and that's going to make getting anywhere in relative peace a problem. Agreeing with the mage, the Sun Goddess waved her hand and a magic circle appeared over her. We watched in fascination as Amaterasu seemed to age backwards. She got shorter, her hair reached up to shoulder length and her face appeared younger. Blinking twice, her golden eyes became a chocolate brown. With a younger but equally attractive Amaterasu joining us, we walked down the street unhindered. While she got a couple of stares from passing Yokais, the majority were from men and it was because of her good looks.

'…I want to see their reactions if I tell them their staring at their patron protector's ass.' Flaring my Chi at one wolf Yokai that was walking too close for comfort behind us, he stumbled back in fear and ran into the crowd. Rolling my eyes at the man, I noticed the amused look Amaterasu was sending me. "What?"

"Nothing." Saying that in way that I didn't believe her, we caught up with the others and they were standing in front of another temple. The temple was an odd one because there was barely anyone in line to enter it. There wasn't anyone waiting at the entrance either with the door opened to anyone willing to enter. "Furutsubaki Temple…" Amaterasu spoke, staring at the temple in awe.

"Have you been here before Amaterasu-sama?" Melissa asked and she nodded.

"A very long time ago, I came here with a friend." She started to walk up the steps and we followed after her. Inside the temple was a single Torii, resting in the middle of the spotless interior. Knowing the drill by now, I took a step forward through the Torii and the scenery changed. I found myself in the middle of the country side; an endless field full of tall white flowers came into view. In the distance, a forest with trees of different colors rested.

"Wow." The other's arrived and they were also awed, a gentle wind picking up. Reaching out with Chi Vision, I sensed a single aura coming from a nearby pond and walked towards it. A woman was sitting on a flower bed, reading a scroll and turned to us when we came close. She smiled.

"Hello, I am Niwashi and welcome to my garden. I'm sorry I wasn't able to greet you at the door, a couple of things came up that I needed to deal with." She stood up, levitating over the flowers to not harm them. "The whole field is open, you can explore at your leisure or if you wish I could give a tour. I just ask to respect the flowers and not to bother other guest."

"What do you guys want to do?" I asked the rest but they didn't care so I accepted the offer for a tour. Niwashi walked with us around the fields, informing us on what each colored flower was and what they represent. Small Altars littered the fields, there was one for every Shinto God and the few Yokais that were in the fields were praying to them. While I wasn't interesting in flowers like that, I had to agree with Amaterasu that this place was beautiful. Bringing us to a mound that overlooked a sea of purple flowers, Melissa and Yasaka both transformed into their animal forms. I smiled watching a black leopard and a nine tailed fox frolicking among the flowers. "How long did it take for your clan to make all this?"

"I have no clan; my ancestor never expanded the bloodline and only had my father before passing. He spends the majority of his time in his homeland. I did all this myself." I didn't miss the hint of pride the Yokai had in her voice.

"Well, I'm impressed. Your Senjutsu control must be top notch if you can create so many flowers in time for the festival to start."

"She didn't use Senjutsu." Amaterasu said, glancing at Niwashi. "Right?" The Yokai nodded.

"I did this all by hand. It took many years and I wasn't able to show it in the festival until it was ready but it was worth it." She stared out at the fields in pride and joy. The flower Yokai spend a better part of a decade making this massive garden, the Torii we came through wasn't to a separate dimension but another location in Japan where she worked.

"But…why?" I didn't get it. It was an incredibly beautiful place; I'll give her that but to spend a decade making this, even with the life spans supernatural creatures have, just seemed like a waste. "Why didn't you just use Senjutsu? That would have saved you a lot of time and effort, wouldn't it?" For her part, Niwashi didn't get offended and smiled.

"Because there's a certain beauty in toiling for something you love." She left with that and started to walk into the field, telling the others who were playing which flowers were softer.

'…Nope, still don't get it.' That sounded really wise and insightful but I didn't understand. I felt a hand grab my arm and I turned to see Amaterasu nodding at the others.

"Come on, thinking too much ruins the moment. Let's join the fun."

"Do you get what she said?" The Sun Goddess stopped at my question and smiled softly.

"Like you'll never believe."

Then she pulled me towards the others.

* * *

**2 Hours Later, Suiko Lake**

"So how does this work exactly?" I asked as I held the fishing pole, Yasaka leaning over the side of the boat. Melissa, Amaterasu, and Maven were in another boat not too far from us. The Shadow Yokai was holding her own fishing pole while the other two were on the lookout for…

"We need to find a couple of Suiko and reel them in to catch their Suiko Stones."

"…And we're doing that because?" No one explained shit to me. We arrived at the shrine, the nine tailed fox led us to a boat, and handed me a fishing rod before coming out into the middle of this lake. Yasaka sighed like what I asked was unreasonable.

"Suiko's grow bright stones on top of their head. If brought to blacksmith, it can be turned into a fine work that shines in the moonlight and never chips."

"…So we're doing this for jewelry?"

"Yep!" She said happily and went back to looking for water Yokai. I sighed in exasperation.

'Supernatural or not, shiny things will always grab a women's attention.' Though considering I plan to be a soldier of fortune, I'll keep that thought to myself. I leaned back against the side, closing my eyes as the boat calmly drifted down the river. A couple of minutes of this passed before I felt a tug on my line. I opened one eye to peek at the rod and saw it swaying. I sat up and gave an experimental pull.

A small tug answered.

"Hey, I think I got-" Then a powerful pull nearly made me let go of the handle. Placing both feet against the side, the boat started to move in the direction of the pulling. It slowly picked up speed and we were soon flying down the river. "A little warning about this would have been nice!" Coating the rod and the boat in Chi, I started to reel in the line.

"It's never been this like before! Why is it so aggressive!? They're so docile when I'm with my mother!" Yasaka yelled over the splashing water. We were soon led to a section of the river where rocks littered the path and I had to swerve out of their way. Missing by inches, we came to a small drop and Yasaka held on to me as the boat jumped.

"You know, this reminds of a video game about a smart ass treasure hunter!... Man, I really miss video games!"

"A what!? What's a video game!?" The kitsune yelled in my ear as I activated my magic and grabbed out to a large rock. Making sure I had a firm grasp (and ignoring the cracks forming from my grip), I gave a fierce tug on the line. Something flew from out the water and landed on our boat. Head first.

"Owww…" A creature who I assumed was a Suiko, sat up and rubbed its head. "That was uncalled for."

"And pulling us across the river at dangerous speeds was?" I quirked a brow and the Suiko shrugged.

"I can't make it too easy." The Suiko, who introduced himself as Suiteki, handed over a hand sized stone that shined brightly in the sun. It was green in color and looked like it had liquid inside that flowed constantly. It was pretty cool.

"Let me see!" Yasaka asked and I tossed the stone to the kitsune. She held it up to the sun and admired it, playing with it. Suiteki was still here and staring at Yasaka quite intently. While I was slightly concerned by what could be considered a scaly fish monster staring down a little girl (wow that does sound really bad), he wasn't giving off any negative intent. He took a hesitant step forward and bowed to the kitsune.

"A-Are you Lady Kyūkan's daughter?" Yasaka stopped playing with the stone and looked to the Yokai. She glanced at me in question but I just shrugged, not knowing anything.

"I am." Suiteki seemed excited at the confirmation and glanced around.

"I have something very important to tell you but we can't do it here, it's too open. Please follow me." The Suiko jumped back in the water and stuck his head out, motioning for us to enter. I saw Yasaka hesitant to do so. She moved but stopped herself and looked at me in plead. I sighed when her ears and tails flopped in an adorable way.

'Now that's not fair…' Internally grumbling, I rubbed my communication ring. "Hey Melissa, you there?"

"Yeah I'm here, what is it?"

"I'm going to see something with Yasaka, we'll be back in a minute."

"Are you guys okay?" Melissa asked with worry and I could hear Maven in the background asking what was wrong.

"We are but I wanted to tell you just in case." Cutting the link, I flared my Chi and after sensing Melissa flare her Chi back, hopped into the water with Yasaka. The reason we didn't wait for the others was because Suiteki seemed jumpy and wasn't keen on me coming with the kitsune in the first place, let alone more people. While Amaterasu probably has more of a right coming along with Yasaka, I highly doubt the Suiko will believe that the Chief Goddess was with us and wait. Swimming through the crystal clear water, we followed Suiteki deep into the river and he motioned towards a path at the bottom. We swam towards the end and came to an air pocket, a small cave appearing.

"We can talk here." Suiteki sat down on a rock while Yasaka used her fox fire to dry us off.

"What is this about?" I asked with crossed arms and Suiteki took a deep breath before turning to Yasaka.

"I am the son of Mizuki, the leader of the Suiko's and I have information on Nurarihyon." Yasaka's face got serious at that and I leaned against the cave wall while Suiteki told his story. The gourd Yokai came to his father a couple nights ago, speaking about the "plan" that was going to start during the festival. Suiteki was napping in the next room and was awoken by their talking. Apparently, Nurarihyon called upon the Suiko's allegiance to the Kushihashi Clan and demanded they help the Yokai Leader.

"Hold on." I raised my hand to stop the Yokai. "I thought the Five Clans and Nurarihyon hated each other, why would he ask their own people for help?" Maybe my memory was fuzzy on the matter, but I distinctly remember that the Five Clans from Slash Dog had a neutral relationship with the Yokais and sometime in DxD, the Yokais end up hating the clans.

"Some Yokais worship the Shinto Gods that gave the Five Clans their Phases and have chosen to serve under them. The Suiko's have chosen to follow the Kushihashi." Yasaka explained before frowning. "What is this plan?"

"I didn't hear the first half because I was still drowsy but Nurarihyon spoke about bringing the Suiko Clan under his faction when they "win" the full support of the Shinto Gods. He left shortly after." Yasaka fell into deep thought at his words.

"Does that mean anything to you?" I asked the kitsune and she looked at me in confusion.

"Not really, no. Nurarihyon has tried to gain the support of the Shinto Gods for years but he's never succeeded. They are kind enough to grant his faction protection from the greater supernatural world but that's about it. Was there anything else about what he said that caught your attention?" Yasaka asked Suiteki and the Yokai thought hard for a second.

"I-I don't think so. The only thing he told my father before leaving was that he'll like his new domain, that "the castle overlooks a nice fishing village"."

'…Well that sounded like nonsense.' Yet Yasaka's face became pensive, taking his words seriously. I crouched down to her level. "You understand what he meant?"

"I think so but before that, I have to ask. Why didn't you come to my mother with this? In fact, why tell us this at all?" Suiteki fidgeted at the question but his gaze never left ours.

"Because I know what he is. I know how he works and he'll use for as long as he needs before throwing us away."

"Those are rumors." Yasaka got oddly defensive at his accusations but the Suiko shook his head.

"I've heard the about the rumors but that's not the reason I came to you. When he came to meet my father…he wasn't alone." Suiteki started to sweat remembering the meeting. "He brought a man with him, a member of the Kushihashi clan."

"Who?"

"Mokuzai Kushihashi." Yasaka's eyes widened.

"Who is Mokuzai Kushihashi?" I asked, never having heard the name and Yasaka answered.

"The heir of the Kushihashi Clan and the current host of their Sacred Beast, the Azure Dragon." It was my eye's turn to widen and Suiteki started to shake.

"My father tried to refuse at first but then Mokuzai joined the conversation and said that another clan already refused to work with them…They preferred if they left with clean hands this time." The air became somber after those words. Suiteki hanged his head low and Yasaka placed a comforting hand over his scaly shoulder. I could see how following a person like Nurarihyon after seeing his work would be uneasy. I don't know the specifics when it came to the Shinto and the Five Families but they were still a powerful force by themselves. Suiteki left shortly after, saying that he's been away for too long and we made our way back to the other.

"So what happened?" Melissa saw us coming and asked but I shook my head.

"We'll explain in a second, first we need to get out of here." While they were confused at my decision, they quickly complied and we made our way out of the temple. We went to an open field behind one of the stands and I had Maven place a barrier around us. Keeping my Chi Vision activate just in case someone tried to get close, Yasaka started explain everything that happened while we were gone. Melissa and Maven were shocked at Nurarihyon's actions while Yasaka still look troubled. Amaterasu on the other hand…

'Is it getting hotter in here?' Or is it the incredibly angry Sun deity whose poker face could bluff a brick wall? Honestly, if it wasn't for her aura steadily growing aura I couldn't tell she was pissed off. "Amaterasu, I get why you're angry but can you let up a little. Getting a sun burn in the middle of the night isn't something I'd like to experience."

_'Knowing you, I'm surprised it hasn't happened to you yet.'_ Ignoring Tyrfing's jab, Amaterasu let out a deep breath and allowed her aura to dim. Inhaling, she calmly opened her eyes.

"That god damn ungrateful son of ragged gourd bitch!" We all watched in shock as the Shinto Goddess started cursing Nurarihyon and all his ancestors. "After everything I've done for him, after all those times Inari and Omoikane told me to not take him under our banner. I gave the benefit of the doubt so he can feel like he belonged somewhere but to destroy another Yokai clan like that is…" The Sun Goddess's face started to get red in anger.

"That's not all." Yasaka brought Amaterasu back from her ranting. "He also said that he'll win the support of the Shinto Gods."

"Like hell he will! What, he thinks because he has the Kushihashi behind him it'll earn our support? He overestimates them."

"He also mentioned something about a castle…and a fishing village." That got Amaterasu's attention.

"Do you mean Edo? What does that have to do with-" She stopped and thought for a second before cursing lowly. "The Kushihashi Heir, of course. It all makes sense now." Melissa, Maven, and I couldn't relate. We locked eyes with each other and Melissa stepped forward.

"Um, Amaterasu-sama?" The mentioned Goddess turned to the Shadow Leopard. "Not that this anything to do with us but what's going on?"

"...Let's go." Speaking to everyone, Amaterasu waved her hand and a magic circle appeared under our feet. Light shined in our eyes and when it faded, we were back in the lawn of the grand shrine. A couple guards came out to see what the commotion was but Amaterasu transformed back into her original form and they hurriedly bowed. She walked to the shrine where her office was and we followed after her. We were met with the advisor of the Gods, Omoikane.

"Amaterasu-san, where were you? I've been waiting to see your progress with the Kagura eve-"

"We have bigger problems, leave that here and come along." The Sun Goddess shot down the advisor's words and dragged him along to her office. She rubbed her ring. "Inari, Kyūkan, and Sarutahiko come to my office immediately."

"What is this about?" Omoikane tried to ask but Amaterasu said to wait till the others arrived. We got comfortable while we waited and the first to come was Inari. Shortly after that was Kyūkan, who surprisingly didn't say anything about her daughter's presence here, and Sarutahiko.

"Okay, what is going on? I was busy training my Inugami's for the Familiar Race." Fitting his larger size, Sarutahiko's voice was booming and vibrated across the room. Amaterasu told them a summary of what was happening and they reacted with different levels of rage and disgust. Kyūkan was the most vocal while the advisor got quiet at the new information.

"What's on your mind Omoikane?" Amaterasu also noticed his silence and Omoikane lifted his head.

"It just doesn't make sense."

"What? You think the Suiko was lying about all of it?"

"Oh no, this sounds like something Nurarihyon would do but the way he's going about it is confusing me." Omoikane started to pace and we watched the advisor. "Nurarihyon has been doing this for a long time, always going for the weak points in the Yokai community to take control from Kyūkan-san or lift his own position among the clans while doing nothing that could be used against him. But now he's destroyed another clan without worrying about the consequences? That doesn't sound like him."

"So he either believes that you'll never find the clan he destroyed, meaning there would be no evidence to be used against him or he has something that levels the playing field." Omoikane nodded at my hypothesis.

"More or less. I'll have my spies look in to any Yokai Clans that didn't join the festival and see if they are safe." Omoikane took out a book and started to write in it, the words glowing as he wrote.

"There's another thing." Yasaka stepped forward and looked to Amaterasu for permission to speak with the Sun Goddess nodded. "In some point in the discussion, Nurarihyon spoke about the castle town, Edo."

"The base of Tokugawa?" Sarutahiko immediately recognized the location. "So the rumors about the Kushihashi Heir was true." Amaterasu saw that we were still confused and started to speak about the distinguished clan. Being a clan personally blessed by the Shinto Gods and having an entity of pure energy that embodies a major element, the Kushihashi Clan was a family of mystics. They have existed since ancient times, exorcising Evil spirits and being servants of the Shinto Gods. In every generation, the strongest mystic would be chosen by the Sacred Beast of the clan and they would be the next heir. The most recent heir to the mystic clan was Mokuzai Kushihashi but he didn't choose to accept the heir mantle. Instead, he chose to follow under an ambitious daimyo.

The former general of Oda Nobunaga and a warlord of Japan, Tokugawa Ieyasu.

'…Damn, missed him by a decade.' I am in no way knowledgeable when it came to history but even I've heard about Oda Nobunaga. If not from actually looking up who he was on random information pages then in games and manga. If this Tokugawa was his general then he must be quite a warrior. 'But this is a world where the supernatural exists, so were they regular people who were skilled or actual super humans?'

"Does Nurarihyon have some kind of alliance with the daimyo? Is so then what did he offer to get the Kushihashi heir's help?" Inari asked, bringing up another good question. We started to brainstorm but no one could think of anything.

"We don't have enough information; I'll also send some of my men to Edo castle and see if they can pick up anything on their plans." Omoikane walked away, presumably going to do that and I turned to a pensive Amaterasu.

"Whatever this plan Nurarihyon has, he's not going to attack the festival will he?"

"He won't." Sarutahiko spoke. "That little weasel would never get into a straight fight no matter how good the odds are in his favor and they are really not." He wasn't wrong. With 4 Shinto Gods, multiple noble Clans with their own Great Yokais and the team here (Nurarihyon probably won't care if we're unaffiliated, he'd still attack), the gourd Yokai won't stand a chance with just the Kushihashi Heir.

'But it's not a guarantee.' Remembering how those three dumbass descendants thought gaining Satan Class strength could help them kill two Devils that were among the strongest beings in DxD, I learned not to mix my common sense with the supernatural. I'll need to keep an eye out so we don't get caught with our pants down. Everyone started to leave once the meeting was over, Amaterasu staring at down at her desk blankly. I had to hold back a chuckle when I placed a hand on her shoulder and she jumped a little.

"W-What?" The Sun Goddess blushed a little in embarrassment but I didn't bring it up.

"I'm sorry we had to return so soon after leaving the shrine, I wanted to show you a couple more places." Amaterasu frowned at my words.

"It's not your fault. Nurarihyon's greed is the problem."

"A grumpy old guy with a big head is hardly an excuse." Figuratively and literally. "Once this whole thing is over, we're spending the last day drinking our weight in food and sake and just bothering the shit out of everyone…I know a place." Amaterasu stared at me before a sly grin appeared on her face.

"Are you asking me on a date?" I tilted my head.

"I believe you guys call it a festival but…yes, yes I am." Amaterasu smiled in amusement and played with a small statue on her desk. A minute of silence passed, to which I assumed meant "no" and turned to walk out.

"I like Tenryu Sake." Amaterasu's voice rang out as the door closed and I grinned widely.

_'…You are one lucky bastard you know that?'_

Yes Dáinsleif. Yes I do.

* * *

**Shadow Leopard Temple**

"…"

"…"

"…Athena?" I sat on top of a house, overlooking a wide field and lake. With the first night of the festival over, the majority of the Yokais went to their respective camps and we did the same. The Shadow Leopards gave us a house in their pocket dimension and everyone was their rooms. I came up to the roof to enjoy the view and speak with Athena on recent events.

"…I honestly don't know why I'm surprised." All things considered, she's taking it pretty well. "Of course you'd uncover a plot by a rival faction during an event of joy and celebration."

"Well you know what they say. It's not a good festival without a conspiracy around the corner."

"Uh huh, sure." The Goddess of Wisdom didn't bother to argue against my claim. "At least it's nothing too serious; Amaterasu should be able to handle it without a problem."

"Hopefully…" I wasn't so sure. If Nurarihyon did indeed wipe out a Yokai clan then Kyūkan and the Shinto Gods won't let that go unpunished. They'd either kill the gourd Yokai or disband his Eastern Faction. Yet in canon, Nurarihyon is still around and so is his faction. I also got another piece of information that got my interest. The current leader of the Nekomata was not in Nurarihyon's faction. I don't know if the Nekomata leader (can't remember her name) that was with Nurarihyon is the current leader but it does beg the question. Does she join sometime in the future or will she jump factions after whatever Nurarihyon has planned? Food for thought.

"So how are you enjoying the festival so far?" Athena asked.

"It's great; I see why you came as often as you could." Athena usually attended the Yokai Festival with Apollon, Aphrodite, and/or Artemis whenever it began. She was pretty bummed that she couldn't join this year because of Zeth.

"Try to go to Rokuro Temple when you can, their appearances are strange but they have the best singing voice among all the Yokais. Every time we have drag Apollon away or else he'd spend the entire festival there."

"Everytime?"

"Everytime." Athena sighed but I could hear the fondness in her voice. For whatever messed up things some of the Gods did in the past, Athena still loved her family very much and would go to great lengths for them. "Still, I'm surprised you were able to get Amaterasu out of her office. I could never get her to leave."

"Oh that was easy, I just turned on the old Pierce charm and we were out of there in no time."

"...You didn't burn it down did you?" I guffawed at her accusation.

"No! I just helped do her paper work in a fast and efficient manner!"

"...So you burned her paper work?"

"...Athena, if this about your hut then I already said I was sorry."

"You had so much space to practice..."

"Yeah and you chose to teach me fire magic right next to it so whose in the wrong here!?" The Goddess of Wisdom was not appeased. We talked for awhile like this, Athena speaking about certain temples she's been to before and that reminded me about my date with Amaterasu. "Hey Athena, do you know where I can get Tenyru Sake?" I asked Melissa about it but apparently it was this really expensive and old stuff that's difficult to get. 'So is striking a date with a Goddess but I successfully did that so how hard could it be to get a bottle of alcohol.'

"Tenyru? Yeah, I think Dionysus has a couple of bottles of that."

"Great! Can you ask him for some? I'll owe him."

"It's no problem, I'll ask him later. I didn't know you liked sake though."

"It's not for me, it's for my date with Amaterasu." I said and Athena got quiet for a second.

"Oh...where are you taking her?"

"I got an idea but I'll have to ask around first before I could do it."

"Okay then, I send you the sake through my Familiar. See you soon." Then she cut the link. I stared at the ring and sighed, pocketing it a second later.

_'...Well you're an idiot.'_ Tyrfing said.

_'I take back what I said about you being lucky.'_ I rolled my eyes at the Demon Swords.

"I am not an idiot."

_'Really? Because telling your potential lover that you're taking out another women doesn't sound like a smart thing to do.'_

"And hiding the fact is?" I retorted and they turned quiet. Athena knows about my relationship with Maven and Melissa. We spent three months living together and it's not like we bothered to hide it. Hell, she straight up asked me and I told her the truth. That kept things awkward between us for a while but she eventually got over it and we acted how we used to. While we occasionally flirt and joke, she still keeps me at arms length. "I respect her decision but I'm not going to tippy toe over the subject whenever it comes up. I have a harem, that's my choice and I'm not ashamed of it. Avoiding it is childish."

_'...Nope, you're still an idiot.'_ Tyrfing and Dáinsleif said at the same. I clicked my tongue.

"Okay, I'm done talking about my love life with you guys." Jumping off the roof of the house, I landed on the balcony and entered my bedroom. Maven and Melissa were already in bed, peacefully sleeping. Slipping into the sheets, I felt Melissa wrap her arms around my waist.

"What were you doing up there?" I wrapped my arms around Melissa at her question.

"Oh I was just talking with my swords about my complicated relationship with multiple Goddesses. Nothing major." Melissa just gave me a sleepy but blank look.

"...Told you not to ask..."

I chuckled at Maven's comment from her section of the bed.

* * *

**Morning After**

"Bullshit." Aindrea spit out, making me smile at his disbelief. Vargas and Adrian were also looking at me with skeptical eyes, not believing what I said.

"Now Aindrea, would I lie about something like this?"

"...Bullshit." I laughed at his denial. Maybe it was because there were more Shadow Leopard to help this time, Ren told Melissa she didn't need to help with the restaurant today. So she decided to spend the day with her mother, Mayumi and chose to bring Maven and Samantha along.

"How you can get the affections of not one but two Goddesses is beyond me." Adrian said and Vargas smirked.

"How does it feel getting the attention of two women that can snap you like a twig?"

"It really keeps me up at night..." He chuckled at my sarcastic tone. We were relaxing in a bamboo forest, a small pixie like creature called a Yosei was serving us snacks and tea. Thanking the small Yokai and giving it a silver coin, I sipped the tea while the others played cards (I already lost). I spoke to Adrian about what currently happening between the Yokai leaders but he said it'd better if we didn't get involved since we're from another pantheon's faction.

'Better...but not impossible.' The small twitch in his eye when I said that made me happier then it should have. Regardless, if its something that the Shinto can deal with themselves then I'll just sit back and relax. "Speaking of, any of you met the Five Principal Families before?" Surprisingly, Adrian was the one to raise his hand.

"I met a member of the Shinra Clan."

"When?"

"When I was looking for members to join my team, I met a man who can use Metal and Strengthening Magic to an impressive degree."

"Oh, so like me?" Adrian shook his head.

"He was nothing like you. He was strong but he was also blood thirsty and cruel. The small amount of time I spent with him was fighting against a group of Evil spirits that were terrorizing a town."

"How is beating a bunch of Evil spirits bad?"

"Do you know how an Evil spirit is made?" Adrian asked and I shook my head. "They are created when people die and their spirits remain in an area full of malice. They become corrupted by that malice and become twisted monsters. The Shinra exterminated all the Evil spirits but left one alive. Do you know why?"

"...Why?" I probably didn't want to know but my curiosity got the better of me.

"If he had killed all of them then the malice in the surroundings would have seeked another soul to corrupt. Evil spirits are always in pain and the more malice they consume, the more pain they endure. He kept the weakest one alive so it can consume the remaining malice in the area and exorcist it, purifying the entire area." Vargas lifted his head from his deck to stare at Adrian.

"What was the Evil spirit?" The Emissary took a deep breath.

"It was a little boy. He died in a fire and turned into a low level Evil Spirit. The Shinra didn't care and let it live to gather malice anyway." The air become heavy at his story and Adrian placed a hand on his sword. "I'm very lucky Sunlight was effective spirits or I would have forced the Shinra to end it himself."

"Did you kill him?" Aindrea asked.

"No, but I got out of there the moment I destroyed the spirit. He didn't try to stop me." Adrian crossed his arms. "Then I met up with Samantha who was healing a group of refugees and we eventually met Melissa."

"Damn..." I shook my head at the thought of someone prolonging the suffering of a dead little boy just to make their job easier (I know there's fucked up things in the world but that was a new one). "Here's hoping that guy got eaten or killed by an Evil spirit."

"I'm not one to wish death on anyone but I'll drink to that." Adrian lifted his cup and we followed suit, clicking our drinks together. Drinking my tea as a gentle breeze came by, I saw a group of young Yokais run by.

"Is the signing already up?"

"Yeah, my brother's in line holding a spot."

"Then let's go!" I curiously watched the group leave the area, many other Yokais going in the same direction. Deciding to see what all the fuss was about, I told the other's I'd be right back and followed the group of Yokais. I came to a clearing in the bamboo forest and saw a long line to a stand. A kitsune was sitting behind the stand, holding a paper to which every Yokai in the line signed. I tilted my head at the sign that said "Youma Tournament Sign-Up".

"What is the hell is a Youma Tournament?" A Yokai with the features of a gold fish turned to me in shock, having heard my question.

"You haven't heard of it?"

"...If I did, I wouldn't have asked." Deadpanning, my comment was largely ignored by the Yokai who stared to explain the event. Every Yokai festival there was a tournament hosted by the Kistune clan, a friendly battle event to pit the younger and more hot blooded members of the Yokai race. Many, if not all of the clans in the faction send one of their members to participate in the tournament to show their pride and valor. "A fighting tournament in the middle of a festival huh? How cliché...this is the place to join?" Quickly standing in line, I asked if it was okay for me to sign up. The fish Yokai said it was fine since humans and beings from other factions have joined the tournament before.

'The Yokai sure are an open minded race.' The others eventually arrived to ask me what was going on and I told them about the event. While Adrian and Vargas preferred to relax while they were here, Aindrea readily joined to sign up. Standing in line for the next ten minutes, it was finally our turn to sign and we were handed a form by the female kistune.

"Please place your hand here." Aindrea did as was asked, the paper shining and numbers started to appear on the sheet. Seeing the number "24" on the paper, I realized that was the Demigod's age and it went away a second later. I tried to do the same but the kitsune pulled it away, giving a wry smile to my confused face. "Sir, this is for the younger generation, please don't cause trouble."

"I'm 16." The kitsune didn't look convinced, her eyes roaming my form. "Let me try and show you." Seeing I wasn't going to relent, she placed the paper down and allowed me to prove my age. Her shock when the low number appeared on the page spoke volumes.

"I-I'm very sorry. Here's your entry badge." She gave us both a badge and we walked back to Adrian and Vargas. I ignored the wide eyes I was given by the other Yokais who saw the exchange. I knew why the kitsune didn't believe me and it was because she sensed how large my Chi was. Even before the training in Olympus, my Chi reserves made it so I match a Great Yokais'. While it didn't grow by much, Athena mainly focused on helping me control and use my Chi more efficiently. Of course, having such a large amount made it hard for other Chi users to determine my age. Oh yeah, there was also one last interesting piece of information that the Goddess of Wisdom nonchalantly dropped on me. I don't have to worry about finding a way to live long enough to reach canon. Why?

Because I already got it.

'You have the reserves to match hundreds of mortal men, did you really think that wouldn't affect your life span?' My face must have been quite a sight because Athena laughed after asking that. My training in Chi already guaranteed a healthy and unnaturally long life. Melissa apparently knew that and genuinely thought I did too. Warrior monks and nomads who practiced in Chi had longs lives even when their reserves are average, let alone my ridiculous standard. Granted, living for thousands of years like Devils and Yokais isn't possible with my current amount, I'll definitely reach the time of canon if I wait it out (the most that would change is me looking a bit older). With my life span problem solved without me even knowing, I spent the rest of that day with Melissa and Maven relaxing. We were told by the kitsune to meet in the arena at noon and go to our respective block.

"Seems we're in different blocks." Aindrea said, holding out his badge to show the letter "A". Not questioning why a Japanese faction would use the English alphabet to assign blocks, I saw mine was the letter "C". "I guess we'll meet once we beat our groups." Nodding at the Demigod, we exited the bamboo forest and made our way through the festival. Seeing the sun relatively low in the sky, I saw that we still had a bit of time so I figured I could go see how things are going with Yasaka and Amaterasu. Parting ways with the others (Aindrea said he'll meet me by the battle stage), I walked to the Grand Shrine and made to enter the front. The guards didn't bother to stop me as they saw me come out the day earlier.

As I walked up the path, two men came out of the entrance and passed me. One man was tall and handsome, having short wavy gray hair. He wore tight fitting priest robes, dissimilar to the weird looking old man next to him. The old man was very short, barely making it to the taller man's waist and had a irregular sized head. The taller man didn't give me a glance as he passed by but the old man did. He was a quick look but I sensed his eyes roam all over before continuing onward. I stopped and watched them leave, their auras telling me everything I needed to know.

"Hello Pierce-san." I heard Kyūkan's voice from behind me. The Yokai leader came to stand next to me, joining me at the entrance and I nodded to the two men.

"That's Nurarihyon and Mokuzai?" She confirmed my suspicions. Mokuzai's aura reminded me of a forest, full of vitality and depth. Nurarihyon's aura was large, as much as I'd expect from a Great Yokai but it was surprisingly tame. 'He's either suppressing it or he's not the close quarters type.' The latter was more likely from what the leader of the Earthly Kami said. I turned to look Kyūkan. "Considering their walking out of here without wounds or guards, it's safe to assume you didn't find that clan?"

"No, Omoikane-sama and my own spies tried to find any signs of a wiped clan but we couldn't." The Yokai leader's bitterness of palpable. Ignoring her general dislike for the gourd Yokai, she knew he wasn't much for bluffing and probably did wipe out a clan that didn't want to join his banner. The fact she couldn't protect a clan from her rival was a bitter pill to swallow. "It's good you're here, Amaterasu-sama wants a word with you." I raised a brow at the order but shrugged in the end.

"Lead the way." I followed after kitsune and we entered the main shrine, ascending up a flight of stairs. I marveled at the beautiful architecture and paintings. "This is a real nice place you got here. I wish I took a minute to look around when I was here but it's hard to admire everything when you're sneaking in."

"Why thank you, I personally took care of the layout for when the Shinto God's-wait what?" Waving my hands and telling her not worry about it, we reached the top floor. The waiting area was just as beautiful as the rest of the shrine and I noticed Yasaka kneeling by a pond. The young kitsune had a small desk in front of her and piles of scrolls on either side of her.

"Hey Yasaka, what's up?" I walked over and saw her writing 'I will listen to my mother from now on in' Kana. Yasaka finished with the final stroke and sighed.

"Hey Pierce..." I titled my head at her lack luster respond.

"What are you doing?" Yasaka rolled up the scroll at my question and placed on the pile to her right before picking up a blank one of her left. I quickly figured it out. "So your mom was angry."

"This is torture..." A fluffy tail hit her face when she said that and her mother stood there with her arms crossed.

"You're being dramatic. The only reason it's not worse is because you leaving actually gave us information on Nurarihyon."

"So isn't it a good thing I ignored your rule?!" Kyūkan quirked a brow.

"Still doesn't change the fact you broke it. Keep writing." Yasaka huffed in anger before pointing at me.

"Then why isn't he being punished too!?" For my part, I was just enjoying the spectacle between the nine tailed mother and daughter. Pointing out that I'm not a "unruly little kitsune who can't listen to instructions", Yasaka went back to her punishment (reluctantly) and Kyūkan brought me to Amaterasu. The Sun Goddess was sitting behind her desk and Inari idly lying on her bed when we entered.

"Welcome Pierce, I'm glad you could come. Please, sit down." Amaterasu said and I took a sit.

"So what's going on? Kyūkan said you had something important to ask me."

"Indeed, we need your help with something." Inari was the one to speak. "We need you to fight the Kushihashi heir."

"Sure." I agreed without skipping a beat, causing the women in the room to pause. I cleared my throat. "But it would be nice to know why I'm doing this and what's the reward."

"Ah, right. That would be prudent." Amaterasu regained her composure and spoke. "We couldn't find anything on Nurarihyon's crime of exterminating an affiliated Clan and he didn't confess to it when he was here. Instead, he wanted to do a wager with us. Tell me Pierce, have you ever heard of the Youma Tournament?" I blinked at the question.

"...Funny you should ask." I told them about my choice to sign up for the Tournament and they were slightly shocked. Inari snorted.

"Well you sure are efficient."

"This is good, we don't need to put your name in last minute and arose suspicion from Nurarihyon." Kyūkan smiled and Amaterasu continued.

"Well he has chosen that event as the place for our wager. Nurarihyon means for either one of his younger members from his faction or the Kushihashi heir to win the tournament. If he does then the Shinto God's will fully support his Kanto Faction just like we do to the Kyoto Faction. We will also need to help him with a favor of his choosing." I frowned at the high returns the gourd Yokai would get from this bet and I turned to look at Kyūkan.

"And what happens if he loses?"

"He dissolves his faction and gives up the key to unlocking the Leylines in Edo." The nine tailed fox said and I was shocked, my eyes roaming down to her connection to the ground. Leylines were spiritual lines that ran across a certain area, drawing upon the everyday energy inhabitants emitted and those connected to Leylines can use that energy to tremendous effects. Nurarihyon had found out that Edo had the potential to host Leylines, something that was incredibly rare from what Kyūkan told me. He now holds the "key" to the Leylines and used it as a betting chip. I fell into thought after they finished explaining the situation.

"Can I ask you guys something?"

"Of course." Amaterasu said and I crossed my arms.

"Why don't you guys take the key from Nurarihyon? He obviously can't be trusted and will probably find a way to get out of the bet if he loses."

"He can't." Inari said and I tilted my head in confusion.

"Why?" The look the Goddess of Prosperity gave me when I asked that send shivers down my spine.

"Because if he does, we will find him and we will break him." The Shinto God's have tried their best to be fair Gods, to not be brute force their way through every problem (besides Susanoo) and to give every Yokai a chance, even Nurarihyon. While many clans would understand if they did manhandle the gourd Yokai into submission, they wanted to avoid being tyrants. But even they had their limits. If it came to it, the Shinto would bring down all the godly might they had on the Yokai leader's head. They were kind and fair but they would not be disrespected. I smiled at the firm looks the women had.

"Alright I'm in." Inari and Kyūkan looked pleased with Amaterasu leaning back in a self satisfied way. "So about that reward..." The Sun Goddess quirked a brow.

"What do you want?"

"You know what I want." Amaterasu frowned at the wide smile I had at my face. "Tell me Amaterasu...how's _my_ Denki been doing?"

The look of realization that slowly turned to horror on the Goddess' face just made me smiled even harder.

* * *

And done. It just wouldn't be a cliché story without one of the oldest making an appearance. Get ready for a good old fashioned fighting tournament! On a completely unrelated note that may or may not have something to do with why this chapter took so long...Ghost of Tsushima is the shit! I mean really Suckerpunch, you guys never fail. Sly Cooper defined my childhood, Infamous made my teens and now you give me Ghost? They have an eternal fan in me. Ramblings aside, I hope you enjoyed!


	36. Chapter 35

**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**

**Smashgunner: **Thanks for the kinds words man. It wasn't affecting me all that much and I don't really see how that's a "large amount". If it's all from the same person then it doesn't really count (I mean, the guy can't even make a fanfiction account to trash talk so his negative opinion is invalid).

**LordGhostStriker**: Me too. I typically avoid the cross over section mainly since it's just the main character from another work sprinkled into the same plot from DxD, it's rarely different but I'm glad you enjoyed my story.

* * *

**Chapter 35: A Yokai Rumble**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and I can't wait for future works that the great God of Breast creates. I own the OCs…Wait, if Ichiei is a Boob God because Issei loves breasts, then am I a God of Trolls because Pierce loves trolling people?...Fuck Yeah!

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – _'Neat'_

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Tournament Tower**

I stood outside the building for the Youma Tournament with the others. Waves of people were slowly filing into the tower, Tengu flying around to guide guests and participants alike to where they need to go. While the majority of the team wasn't going to join the event, they still came along to cheer us on. Melissa's parents and younger siblings also came too since this was one of the highlights of the festival (a couple Shadow Leopards from the clan were in the tournament as well). Standing on a patch of grass next to the tower, I crouched down and petted both magical beings in front of me.

"Alright, some introductions are in order. Denki, this is Jade and she's your senior so treat her with respect. Jade, this is our new member and your junior, be a good girl and watch over him okay?" Ignoring the weird looks being sent my way (most coming from my teammates), I introduced my current familiar to my new Yokai summon. Jade and Denki stared at me in silence before turning to look at each other. The rabbit soon started clucking with the lightning dog barking back. "Hey look, they like each other already."

"Um, I don't think they can understand each other Pierc-" Vargas' comment was stopped short as Denki lowered his head and Jade hopped on top. Then Denki walked around with the green familiar riding tall and proud. "…Well holy shit." The girls started to pet the magic animals and Adrian walked up to me.

"Not to question your spontaneous decision making skills but you couldn't think of anything else to ask for?"

"Nope."

"So you're willing to become enemies with an Ultimate-class Yokai that rules his own faction and a powerful human with a Sacred Beast for a lightning dog?" Adrian asked with a raised brow.

"…I don't see the problem." That got a tired sigh out of the Emissary. "Oh don't worry so much, said Yokai leader is a chicken that can't fight for himself and the other stripped his privileges of his clan for a random lord. Besides…cools dogs are justice!"

"…What?"

We finished messing around and joined the line into the tower. Asao explained the tournament having been a part of it in his youth. The tournament wasn't a conventional one where everyone fights one person and they go up from there. Considering its popularity and age, there were hundreds of Yokais that joined to show off their strength for their clans or groups. The fact that other beings from different factions can join meant that number only increased. So Kyūkan and the Shinto Gods divided the event into "blocks". The blocks were from A to D and they were separate dimensions where a certain number of participants competed.

"The conditions for winning changes every couple of years. Sometimes it's a free for all and when you defeat every participant in your block, you fight the other winners in a final zone. Last year it was a point based system and it depended on how many opponents you could defeat before the timer was up."

"There was also a year where the Shinto Gods joined and advanced the participants that fought impressively. Heh, the poor bastards that had Amaterasu-sama in their block were incredibly unlucky!" Ren laughed and Asao narrowed his eyes.

"I was in that block." Melissa's father smirked.

"I know." We pretended not to know them when they started to fight. Catching us after their little squabble, Aindrea and I split from the group. Getting a round of good lucks, we followed a Tengu that brought us to a large hall. Countless number of Yokais were standing inside, many huddled together with others from their clan. There was four tall Torii's in each corner of the hall and they had a different letter that represented the block it led to. Aindrea and I walked over to an isolated portion of the hall, waiting for the event to start. 10 minutes passed before my "mission" finally arrived. I watched Mokuzai Kushihashi as he calmly walked into the hall and scanned the hall, most likely to observe his competition. Then his gaze met mine.

"…" I made no movement and kept my gaze locked with his. We stayed like this for a minute then he lightly bowed in my direction and walked away. I quirked a brow at the odd show of respect.

"So that's who you have to defeat?" Aindrea asked, having seen the exchange and I nodded. I already told the rest of the team about my mission on defeating the Sacred Beast host and the Demigod smirked. "He's quite powerful. Are you sure you can handle that?" While he said it in his ever eternal smug tone, I could hear the underline worry. I gave him a confident grin.

"I already beat one guy with an overpowered lizard in their body; I think I got one more in me." The Demigod just snorted at that. More Yokais started to file in and one group instantly got my attention. They were all women and by their cat features, they were obviously Nekomatas. Yet while the majority was wearing Shinto maiden robes, the leading Nekomata sported an outfit that was a mix between samurai armor and a yukata. She also had a katana hanging from her waist. Feeling the impressive amount of Chi coming from the Nekomata, I turned to Aindrea. "Hey watch out for that Nekomata if you can, she feels almost as powerful as Shiruku."

Getting an affirmative nod from the Demigod, the gates to the hall closed and the Torii gates started to vibrate. The crowd started to rustle and murmur (mainly from the first timers) as a section of the hall started to rise. Contestants shuffled out of the way as the podium came to a stop and a portal appeared on top, the leader of the Earthly Kami walking out of it nonchalantly. The murmuring increased because of Sarutahiko's arrival but the Shinto God did nothing to stop it. I watched in puzzlement as he cracked his neck and took a deep breath.

"QUIET!" His booming voice echoed across the hall, overshadowing the murmuring and everyone went silent. "If I knew that this event was mainly about talking then I would have went to a play with Omoikane, at least that's a challenge!" I smiled at the joke along with a couple of Yokais from the crowd and Sarutahiko huffed. "But that's not why you all came. You came for a fight, for a place to test your metal. To bring glory to your clans, am I right!?"

"Yeah!" The crowd cheered.

"So shut the hell up and let's do this!" While he seemed oddly mad that they responded even though he asked them to, the contestants weren't fazed and the mood of the hall drastically increased.

"The Shinto's sure have some good hype men." I chuckled at the trend I keep seeing from the Gods and Goddess of the pantheon.

"…What's a hype man?" Aindrea asked with a confused face and I rolled my eyes.

"You'll find out when you're older." We focused back on Sarutahiko and he explained the terms for the tournament. The blocks were set in replicas of historical landmarks in Japan and hundreds of participants were to fight in each one. It was a free for all and the 3 contestants with the most opponents defeated from each block passing into the 2nd phase. The 2nd phase would have 12 participants left and they will fight in another zone.

"Excuse me." A person from the crowd lifted their hand and I saw it was the Samurai Nekomata from earlier. "What happens if someone defeats another in the top 3 when they're injured, do they automatically become one of the 3?"

"Yes, they do." Sarutahiko said straight forwardly and smirked. "And I shouldn't be saying this but I wouldn't recommend that."

"Why not?" The Nekomata furrowed her brows.

"Because if that's what you need to do to win then…how will you survive against the other eleven straight on?" The Shinto God's words brought a numb silence to the crowd and a couple even started to sweat. I internally complimented his mind warfare. No matter how unbiased the tournament tried to be, this set up was a way for the "weak" to be weeded out. The last 12 would be essentially be the strongest beings among the hundreds that entered and if a weak contestant got to the next phase by a fluke; then they won't last long against the eleven that got their position legitimately.

'And knowing how they work, the Shintos will probably give them time to rest and heal for the 2nd phase.' That and it just be boring to have the 12 fight exhausted.

"That's everything you need to know, good luck and fight strong." Sarutahiko teleported away after saying that and lights came out from the Torii gates, slowly swallowing every contestant. Bumping fists with Aindrea, I wished him luck as the light flooded my vision. Offering no resistance as I felt myself be pulled to another space, I felt my feet become planted on the ground once more and the light went away. I was in the middle of a forest, a serene lake with a golden pavilion resting in the center.

Oh yeah, a furry white fist was also coming at my face. Feeling the aura from the beginning, I calmly raised a Chi coated palm and stopped the fist dead. Holding onto the fist, I turned to look at my attacker. It was a tall ape like Yokai with white hair. Recognizing it as a Yuki-onna, it tried to pry its fist from my grip but it struggled in vain. I sensed it was going to breathe a Chi attack at me and my fist cleanly connected with its forehead. Not bothering with the Yokai as it was teleported out of tournament, I took a step forward…and a fireball flew at my face.

"Okay, what is with you guys and going for my face!?" I swatted the fireball away and I saw it was from a Yokai that looked like an old man (from what Melissa told me, some Yokais as a race naturally looked that old). The Yokai must not have expected for his attack to be negated so easily as he looked surprised. I Chi Burst next to him and slammed my foot into his stomach, instantly knocking him out. He flew through a tree before being teleported away but the noise must have attracted other contestants because rumbling came from beyond the trees. I crossed my arms and waited patiently for the new arrival.

My patience was rewarded when a 3 meter tall Yokai slithered into the open. I say slithered like it was a snake but it had a horse's head and the body was more like a worm's. While I contemplated how something like that could possibly happen, the worm/horse Yokai stared in my direction and flared his nostrils. I promptly knocked its teeth out and it squirmed on the ground before falling unconscious. Finally having a moment of peace, I activated Chi Vision and tried to find a certain Heir's aura amongst the hundreds in my block. I clicked my tongue when I noticed he wasn't here.

'He's probably in the other blocks.' I hoped that he was in Aindrea's block so the Demigod could kick his ass and finish my job for me but I didn't count on it. Kyūkan warned me of Nurarihyon's cunning and he most likely guessed that I was the Shinto's contingency plan. He either told Mokuzai to hide until the end or found a way to have the heir in another block. While the Yokai leader trusted in her younger generation, it didn't change the fact that it was better to have a back up if things go south. I didn't need to win the tournament; I just needed to beat Mokuzai. Coming back from my scan, my hand reached for the neck of an approaching aura.

"W-Wait Pierce-sama!" I stopped my hand inches from its intended target and observed the Yokai. It was a young man around my age with blond hair, blue eyes and a handsome face. He had two fox ears and a tail.

"You're the kistune Kyūkan sent to meet me?" I relaxed my guard when it hurriedly nodded his head. The nine tailed matriarch also told me that she'll send a member of her clan to help me in the first part of the tournament. I amusingly asked if that was cheating and the Yokai leader responded with a sly "only if you get caught". The chuckles from the main organizers as they heard that said it all.

"My name is Kuzuno, it's a pleasure to meet you Pierce-sama." The male kitsune introduced himself and I nodded in greetings.

"Likewise." I walked towards the golden pavilion, Kuzuno following after me. We jumped across the lake and landed on top of the pavilion. I turned to the kitsune when I didn't sense anyone else. "So Kyukan said you could tell me more about Mokuzai and the Yokais' from Nurarihyon's faction."

"That is true Pierce-sama. I was tasked by my leader to learn about the enemy's forces and their layout in time to help you." Kuzuno started list off a bunch of facts about Nurarihyon's side. Everything was pretty much what I expected. Nurarihyon chose not to pull any punches when it came to the tournament; he brought every member of his faction that could join. He evenly distributed his forces among the blocks and they were banding together to crush Kyūkan's forces. Also, like I figured, Mokuzai was in block B and was currently mowing through his opponents. Regardless, Kyukan's Yokai were holding their own and it wasn't bleak yet. "What do you plan to do first?" I sat down at Kuzuno's question and got into a mediating position.

Taking a deep breath, I reached out to my Chi reserves and started to compact it. This was a trick Athena taught me when we were training. It allowed someone with large reserves to hide it better from others that can sense it. While I needed to learn some basics from Senjutsu to perfectly conceal it like Athena and Aphrodite, this will allow me to move around without the majority of the Yokais knowing where I was (thought once I start fighting, my Chi returns to normal). I opened my eyes to see a confused Kuzuno.

"Get comfortable, we're going to be here a while." I took out a blanket and set it down on the tiled roof. The first phase was 90 minutes long and it's been 10 minutes since I arrived which left a little over an hour until I actually needed to move. I had no plan to go running around and fight every single contestant I see in sight. Not only would that be pointless because auras were being defeated left and right in the block, the stronger ones were steering clear of each other. While we couldn't tell who is in top 3 since there wasn't a tracker on everyone plain to see, I will sense an aura that's reasonably stronger than the others and go beat that one. I'll leave it till the timer is almost up so no one can annoy me. "Is there a problem?" I asked when I saw Kuzuno's hesitant face.

"N-No! I have no problem with it; it's quite a sound plan. It's just…isn't that a little dishonorable?"

"Of course, that's why I'm doing it!" I smiled at Kuzuno's shocked face and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, we're doing this so a bastard of a Yokai get's what's coming to him. Think of it as a necessary evil."

"I-I'll try."

"Good! Now…Onigiri?"

* * *

**Tournament Tower, Viewing Room**

"…What is he doing?" Melissa sighed watching Pierce hand his kistune companion a rice ball and sit down to eat his own.

"He's being Pierce, what else did you expect?" Adrian said and turned to look at another screen that showed Aindrea wrecking havoc. "At least someone is enjoying this…maybe a bit too much." They flinched when a small gray goblin looking Yokai hit the Demigod's back with a hammer and it was sent flying with a pissed counter (thankfully it was a Yokai from Nurarihyon's faction).

"Yeah, definitely." Maven said as she sat on a couch, petting Denki who was resting it's head on her lap. They were sitting in one of the many viewing rooms that were in the tower. There were rooms open for any clan and for the older ones like Melissa's; they get a personal section of viewing rooms.

"He's smart for doing so; Pierce's plan is good for him because of his superior sensing ability. He can keep track of his opponents easily enough but Aindrea doesn't have that. Beating as many as he can in the beginning is his best bet." Vargas added and Adrian nodded. The Emissary looked to a screen that showed block B. The block was set in a replica of the Temple City, Nara. The many temples and shrines that littered the grounds made for a beautiful place to battle.

Until the Kushihashi Heir arrived anyway. Adrian narrowed his eyes at the form of Mokuzai. He stood atop a massive tree which sprouted from the hall that housed the Great Buddha statue. Like they were alive, the branches of the tree went out and took out any contestant near him. A couple fire Yokais tried to burn the tree but lightning bolts came down and struck them.

'He's going to be trouble.' Unknown to the Emissary, someone else had the same thought. In another, much grander looking viewing room, Amaterasu frowned when she saw the Kushihashi Heir work. He was stronger than she was expecting. She's met all of the previous wielders of the Azure Dragon and Mokuzai's usage of his Sacred Beast's abilities far outstripped the norm.

"He defeated Genji." The Sun Goddess glanced at a scowling Inari. Genji was a high ranking member of the Akashita Clan, Yokais known for their combat power and lightning manipulation. They planned for him to at least do some damage against the heir but Mokuzai took him out easily.

"We still have other members ready to fight, let's not worry so soon." Kyūkan advised and they watched as the Heir went off to find more opponents. "How are Sarutahiko and Omoikane doing?" Amaterasu rubbed her ring and after a second, lifted her head.

"They're fine; Nurarihyon hasn't done anything out of the ordinary." Naturally, being one of the two parties wagering, the gourd Yokai was nearby to watch the tournament. He's a separate viewing room nearby along with Omoikane and Sarutahiko. The reason Amaterasu had it this way was so he doesn't get any funny ideas in case he loses. "He's actually quite calm and content." That brought a round of frowns. While the gourd Yokais' overconfidence seemed misplaced before, Mokuzai's capabilities now changed that notion.

"How's our trump card doing?" Amaterasu glanced at the screen that showed block C and had to hold back an amused smile. Yasaka didn't hide it and giggled next to her exasperated mother. Pierce at some point took out a standing umbrella to block the sun and was reading peacefully under it. "…Sorry I asked." Inari deadpanned and a worried look appeared on Kyūkan's face.

"Was it a good idea to place our faith in him?"

"It was." Amaterasu said without hesitation. "He may a bit odd, but he'll do his best to get the job done. That I can vouch for."

"So your confidence has nothing to do with the fact that he's courting you?" Inari said with a grin, one the Sun Goddess returned.

"At least I can get a date." The nine tailed fox mother and daughter watched in amusement as Inari's brow twitched.

"I can get a date!"

"Going to the Great Wall of China with Ebisu that one time doesn't count."

"Urgh!"

Kyūkan shook her head at the way the two Goddesses started to pick at each other's (surprisingly) small love life. While a part of her was skeptical on Amaterasu's praise on Pierce, having never seen his power personally, she still chose to place her faith in her patron.

"You know, you talk big for someone who married a dead beat moon bastard! What he represented should have been the first sign!"

"H-Hey!"

Kyūkan tried her best to watch the tournament, tuning out the brutal jabs being sent next to her.

Her daughter made no such attempt.

* * *

**1 Hour Later, Back to Pierce**

You would assume that with how little Devils talked about their creator, Lilith was a well kept secret in the supernatural world. The book Maven gave me about the Devil Race's origin disproved that immediately. The Mother of all Devils was seen in the same light as Lucifer in the Underworld, the devil portion anyway. Some say even higher because of her abilities to create Devils from her own flesh and that if it wasn't for her, the Four Satans wouldn't have an army to go against their greatest enemies.

'I guess the reason Devils don't directly talk about her is because they see her in the same way Christians see God. Expect Lilith actually created her race. God just created Angels, not humans…How ironic.' A small magic circle appeared in front of the page I was reading, a ringing emitting from the spell. Shutting my book, I placed it back in my space ring and stood up. I noticed that Kuzuno was mediating on the side and chose not to bother him. I activated Chi Vision and whistled at what I saw.

There was a very small amount of contestants remaining, about 15. Compared to the hundreds I sensed earlier, that was quite a dip. Of course, a couple of Yokais made their way to the pavilion in the past hour but they were all relatively weak. Locking on to the strongest aura closest to me, I quirked my head at what I felt. It felt very familiar. I scanned a couple more time to get a better read but I couldn't place it.

'I guess we'll find out.' I walked over to Kuzuno and tabbed him on the shoulder. "Time to go." The kitsune came to and breathed out, giving me a firm nod. "Try to keep up." Using Touki, I leaped across the lake and started to run towards the aura. Kuzuno kept up easily enough and soon we came into a clearing. I stopped dead at what I saw. I now know why that aura gave me such a feeling of nostalgia.

"An Onikuma." Kuzuno stood next to me, staring at our adversary. A huge bear with brown fur lied in the middle of the clearing. "A Yokai clan known for their great strength and incredibly vitality. I would recommend not to face them head on and try to use speed to your advantage, Pierce-sama." The kitsune tried to give me some advice but my mind was elsewhere. A vivid memory of a black menace kicking my ass through the forest outside my home town came to the front and a mad smile appeared on my face. I walked out into the open and marched right up to the Onikuma. Sensing my approach, the Yokai opened its eyes and stood up to face me. It's bright red eyes and dense aura were near identical to the Tyrant. I came face to face with it and cracked my knuckles.

The Yokai gave no response to my actions and lifted a paw. Using my Strengthening Magic from the get go, I met its paw with my fist. A shockwave went out as the ground under us cracked and the Onikuma went stumbling back. I rushed at it and my foot connected with the side of its head, its jaw coming unhinged. Leaping into the air as it tried to give a sloppy swipe; I gathered a large amount of Chi in my fist and slammed it down on its back. A crater appeared under the Yokai as it buckled under my blow and it fell to the ground. Seeing the Onikuma teleported out of the block, I walked back to a shocked Kuzuno.

"D-Did you know him?"

"No idea."

"…Then why do you look so satisfied?" Kuzuno asked in puzzlement and I gave him a refreshing smile.

"Because coming back to the first boss after so long feels great."

"…What?"

Leaving the scene behind shortly after, I started to blitz any contestant remaining in the block. The ones that survived till the end were stronger than your average High Class Devil. Beating a snake Yokai that controlled a poison miasma, a large ape with a butcher's knife and a two headed bird that shot golden flames at me in quick succession, I was stopped by a headless horseman. Surprised to see a Dullahan in this tournament, I started barraging it with lightning fast blows and its armor easily absorbed them. Ducking under its lance, I tripped its horse and it was sent flying off it. It got up and tried to skewer me but I side stepped the thrust. I sent a Seismic Fist to its chest but only a couple of cracks before they started to heal. Seeing how my strikes weren't doing much damage, I ripped the lance from its hands and snapped it in half.

"Hey, that wasn't necessary! Do you have any idea how much that will cost to repair!?" I stopped at the voice and looked to the horse. On the side of its saddle hanged the severed head of a bald man, who was currently scowling and reprimanding me for not respecting an opponent's weaponry.

"…Huh, you're the first Dullahan I've ever met but this the second time a severed head is talking to me." The Dullahan head blinked at that.

"How does that happen?"

"You wouldn't believe me."

"…I'm a talking head that lets my animated armor fight for me." The Dullahan deadpanned.

"…Touché." Ending the conversation, I grabbed the armor and slammed it into the ground. I took out Tyrfing and made a hole in the armor's chest with a concentrated blast. The Dullahan was teleported away, along with the horse funnily enough. I turned around when I heard footsteps coming towards me. I saw it was the Samurai Nekomata and she calmly observed the area. Her eyes settled on my Demon Sword for a second before she spoke.

"You're strong." She said emotionlessly and I quirked a brow.

"Thanks." I tilted my head when she said nothing else. "Is that all you came to say or do you want to fight?" She shook her head.

"I just came to see the Red Dragon Slayer for myself."

"And?" I crossed my arms, waiting for her answer as she looked me up and down. I wasn't surprised that she knew of my battle against the most recent Red Dragon Emperor. Three months have passed since that fight and the fact that it happened was passed around the supernatural community (though I was in Olympus for the most part so no one knew where to find me).

"I thought you'd be taller."

"…Why?" I asked. "No, I'm genuinely curious, why would you think I'd be taller?" I never understood that whole thing with people expecting an impressive person be tall. The majority of the strongest beings in the world are of average human proportions and Ophis, the strongest being in DxD next to Great Red, is an honest to God 4 foot tall loli (in the future anyway). The Samurai Nekomata didn't answer me and turned around to walk away, most likely having lost interest.

"See you in the finals." She said while leaving.

"How are you so sure I made it?" Granted, I went after the strongest auras in the block, there's no telling if a Yokai that can hide their Chi like she can is still around.

"The Onikuma you faced in the beginning was in 2nd place with that Dullahan coming up right behind it." I narrowed my eyes at the information.

'Was she following me since I left the pavilion? Or was she able to observe the entire block in minute detail?' Either way, this woman wasn't normal. "So who's in first place?"

"…" A smile appeared on her emotionless face before she disappeared from sight. I stared at the direction she left in thought and turned to look at a tree to my left.

"Would you come out already? If I can sense you there then she definitely did." I said and Kuzuno came out behind the tree with a wry smile.

"You are not exactly a standard measuring stick Pierce-sama." I rolled my eyes.

"Apparently, neither is she so you mind telling me who that was?" Kuzuno quickly told me everything he knew about her. Her name was Shinen Kesshite, the daughter of a Nekomata noble and a powerful Nekoshou. I raised a brow at the fact that she was one of the rare variety of Nekomata. She was known for her incredible swordsmanship and the way she uses her purifying flames in conjunction. 'So I might need to fight a more serious version of Kuroka, wonderful.' I thought with a grunt. We spent the remaining time talking about any other participants I needed to worry about and soon, a magic circle appeared under me.

"Good luck Pierce-sama, I hope you prevail against all opposition." Saying goodbye to the kitsune, I found myself in the middle of a large room. It looked like the Grand Shrines waiting room and more people started to be teleported within. Shinen and Mokuzai were among the ones teleported. Aindrea was the final arrival and he plopped on the ground. I frowned at the bloody gash left on the Demigods shoulder and walked over.

"What happened to you?" I placed a hand on the wound and started to give him my Chi. He glared in a random direction.

"He happened." I followed his gaze and found a contestant standing alone. It was Yokai that took the form of a young man with brown hair. He was wearing an open yukata and was holding a silver staff. He sensed our gaze and gave a "friendly" smile.

'Itazu of the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit…' I knew who he was. Kuzuno warned me of all the heavy hitters amongst the contestants and he was one of them. Itazu was a member of the legendary Monkey Clan Sun Wukong was from and he was known for his lust for battle (must be a requirement for that clan). I helped Aindrea to his feet. "Be patient, you'll get your rematch soon enough." I dragged him to a couple of seats on the side and we sat down. Everyone kept a comfortable distance after and I noticed that there were only 7 contestants remaining.

'I guess just because the limit was 12 doesn't mean it will be reached.' Besides Aindrea, Shinen, Mokuzai, Itazu, and I; there were two members of the Kamaitachi Clan. They both looked like identical twins with handsome faces and whiskers. A wave of energy went out within the room, swarming towards everyone inside. I tried to stop it but I couldn't and felt the small amount of Chi I used to move around in the first phase was restored. Aindrea rolled his shoulders, showing that the discomfort from the wound was gone.

A magic circle appeared in the middle of the room and Shinen immediately walked towards it, disappearing inside. The other participants followed suit and we were the last to do so. The moment I took a step through, I smelled sea water and found myself on a hill overlooking a tropical island. Aindrea came next to me and we looked at each other in confusion.

"What are we supposed to do her-"

"Only 7 this year? Well I guess this should still be interesting." A voice rang and we stared up into the sky. A building sized magic circle was in the air and a screen was in the middle of it, Sarutahiko's smiling face on it. "Welcome to Ogasawara. This will be the arena for the second phase and the rules are real simple. On 3 contestants, there is an artifact that they need to keep until the timer is up or until the other remaining opponents are defeated. Naturally, you can steal this artifact to be one of the three qualified for the final phase. Good luck!" The screen stopped showing Sarutahiko and a timer with 60 minutes appeared. The moment it started to tick down, we started to feel around our bodies and I found a small disk inside my pocket. It was shiny obsidian with a weird symbol in the middle.

"The Yata no Kagami?" The Demigod saw the disk and exclaimed in shock. I furrowed my brows.

"There's no way they'd use the actual Regalia in the tournament…right?" Giving each other a weird look, I sensed the artifact with my Spiritual Energy and got no reaction (I figured as much). Aindrea kept searching but found nothing and had to go find one from the other contestants. He walked away to start searching but I called out to him. He looked back to me in confusion and I pointed north of the island. "The Monkey is behind that mountain." The Demigod blankly stared where I pointed before smiling widely and flying in that direction. Watching the Demigod go, I turned around and flew south of the island. The reason I didn't go with Aindrea was because I could sense Mokuzai in the other direction.

Flying high in the air, I saw the Heir calmly sitting on a cliff side. He sat on a small boulder and played with something in his hand. I landed a couple of meters away from him and he turned his head slightly, knowing I arrived.

"Do you believe Enma-sama is understanding?" Mokuzai asked, making me stop at the odd question. I thought back at the prank the Monkey King did on the King of Hell and shrugged.

"Probably. He doesn't seem like he would hold a grudge."

"I could only hope he is for I may need to rely on it when my time comes." He did a short prayer afterwards and I tilted my head.

"For a person that holds an immensely powerful being in their body you sure fear the Gods. If you are so afraid of what will happen when you die, why did you join forces with Nurarihyon?" Considering how the Principal Families idolize the Shinto Gods, the fact that Mokuzai abandoned them to serve a mortal warlord confused me (he also seemed to worship them too).

"Because a man is only as good as his word and I keep mine." Mokuzai said with conviction and I smiled.

"Sounds like you have quite a good story to tell. I would like to hear it after I kick your ass." The Heir gave a confident grin.

"It would be my pleasure." Taking that as an invitation, I lunged at the Sacred Beast host and he met my fist with his own. Our Chi clashed and mine overpowered his, forcing him back. I tried to sweep his leg but he jumped over it and landed a couple feet away. Sending a couple of Chi Swords from multiple directions, the Kushihashi Heir created a barrier of wind that blocked the constructs. I Chi Burst to his side and hit his stomach but I frowned when I felt I was punching steel. Mokuzai smiled as he sent a punch at my face and I blocked it my palm. A shockwave went out as I felt my palm go numb. I activated Touki as blocked another punch and was send skidding back.

I watched as scales started to cover Mokuzai's body and his eyes glowed yellow. A silhouette dozens of feet tall appeared behind him and it looked in my direction. The blue Dragon took a deep breath before shooting a blast of lightning and wind at me. I leaped out of the way as the attack carved a path through the tropical forest behind me. It shot a couple more at me and stopped when it saw they weren't landing.

"_**Sakura no jidai." **_Mokuzai chanted as he drew Shinto Symbols in the air and they sank into the ground. Trees started to sprout from the ground in quick succession, reaching towering heights. I kept my guard up for any attacks from the unnaturally grown trees and watched as they did nothing but bloom. Sakuras started to fall from the trees and harmlessly littered the battlefield.

Then Mokuzai raised his hands.

"!" I Chi Burst away when the Sakuras under my feet flew at me, the swishing sounds in the air hinting at their cutting power. Like homing beacons, all the petals in the air chased after me and I was shocked to see one of the petals make a cut on my leg even with Touki on. 'Damn, that's some dangerous foliage!'I tried to escape the zone but the Sakuras twirled around the area like a tornado. Through the endless wave of death petals, I saw Mokuzai's victorious face and my mouth twitched.

"So that's how you're going to play it huh?" Seeing how the kiddies gloves were coming off, I chose to get serious as well and took out my Demon Swords. "You guys ready!?"

"_Yes!" _

"_Let's fuck some shit up!" _

Getting confirmation from Tyrfing and Dáinsleif, I started channeling Chi into the swords. Mokuzai saw my actions and waved his hands. All the Sakuras in the area charged at me as raised my swords high.

"_**Adfail Rhew!" **_Slamming my Demon Swords together, the power of ice and power went outwards. Tyrfing's aura of destruction pushed away the petals as Dáinsleif's ability shattered them to ice particles. The wave didn't stop as it ripped all the trees from their base and Mokuzai had to back off. Slashing with my weapons, two sword waves flew at him and he summoned a massive tree to block it. The waves easily cut through the tree and hit him dead on. I saw him gritt his teeth as the scales on his body shatter and freeze.

I pushed my advantage and sent dozens of slashs at the Heir. He ran across the field, dodging the attacks and started to wave his hands. Shinto Symbols appeared in the sky and clouds gathered above the sunny tropical island. The wind started to pick up violently and thunder boomed. Seeing bunch of lightning and a tornado gather, I lifted my Demons Swords to meet the onslaught. Increasing the density of my Touki, I watched as the elements rained down...and completely miss me.

'Huh?' I was confused as the lightning and tornado flew at Mokuzai. Before they hit, the Kushihashi Heir took out something that absorbed attacks. I shielded my eyes as the object in his eyes glowed and when it dimmed, I saw what it was. It was a long black broadsword with blue veins running across it's side. There were seven "branches" coming out of the sides of the sword and the Holy aura coming off it said enough. 'Well he is an exorcist, having a Holy Sword fits.' I thought as Mokuzai raised the sword and sent a massive wind blade towards my direction. I flew out of the way as the blade cut through the clouds and I sent one back in the turn. I became shocked when Mokuzai absorbed my attack and a branch from the sword started to glow purple before he sent a blast of ice.

_'Okay, that's not fair!' _Agreeing with Dáinsleif, I met the ice blast with my own and mine destroyed it easily.

'I guess it can't match the original source he absorbed it from in power.' Seeing through the Holy Sword's weakness, Mokuzai backed away a far distance and held the Seven Branched Sword against his chest. Not wanting to leave him time to do whatever he planned, Tyrfing's aura enlarged as I used Sword Fury and dashed at the Heir. Just before my attack landed, a Dragon's claw slammed in front of me and blocked the attack. The Blue Dragon roared in pain as my sword severed its hand but Mokuzai's voice overshadowed it.

_**"Ki No Tanjō." **_I had no time to react as Mokuzai's aura surged outward and I was flung far away into the trees. Slamming into a particularity large boulder, I rubbed my head and stood up. The boulder crumbled to pieces as I walked away and came back to see a forest in the originally flat field. The Blue Dragon was gone but in it's place, Mokuzai stood tall with new light blue robes and a Dragon's head. The Kushihashi Heir's aura was far stronger then before and turning on Chi Vision, I could see a continuous stream of Chi being given to him from the surrounding trees. I sighed.

"Seems like we're going with _that_." I said and both Demon Swords flared.

_'Really? Are sure?'_ Tyrfing asked and Dáinsleif laughed.

_'Oh this is going to be fun.'_

Placing both Demon Swords to the side, I lifted my hands and gathered the Silver Mana in the surroundings. It took longer then usual because of the location but Mokuzai made no move to stop me. A Norse Magic circle was formed in front of me but it was different from the ones from before with a smaller size and it had streaks of red across it. I allowed the circle to sink into my chest.

_**"Einn Jǫru-Fægir's Dreyri." **_Chanting the spell, the effects were instantaneous. My white colored Touki changed to a rose gold and my veins glowed a bright silver. I could feel my muscles be filled to the brim with Strengthening Magic and my aura clashed evenly against Mokuzai's.

Then I felt the burning. I furrowed my brows as the new feeling of my Chi being "burned" gnawed at my reserves. The reason it was burning was because the Strengthening Spell I used wasn't a normal Order Spell.

It was a Forbidden Spell. As the spell raged in my body, my mind went back to the day I asked Athena for this spell.

* * *

**1 Month Ago, The Elysian Fields**

The sun was getting low in the Olympian Heaven, the team resting in the cabin after a long day of training. Apollon and the others were talking inside while I was on the porch with the Goddess of Wisdom. I stood over Athena as she read her book, a blank look on her face as she registered what I asked for.

"Hell no." I groaned at the answer (I saw it coming though).

"Athena..."

"No Pierce." The Goddess of Wisdom was firm in her answer.

"I wouldn't be asking you this if I didn't think it was necessary." I asked but Athena just crossed her arms. "Look, I've talked with Demeter and Maven on the subject. It won't be as bad as you think so long as I keep in control."

"Keeping control in theory and keeping control in battle are two very different things."

"And that's what training is for." I said with a cheeky grin and she sighed. From what Maven knows, she's heard of Great Yokais that have used Forbidden Spells and have recovered from the strain easily enough (it was rare but it happened). I told Athena that and she feel into deep thought. Honestly, I was in agreement with the Goddess when it came to Forbidden spells. Issei's Boosted Gear was pretty much a Forbidden Spell considering the risk that came along with the Longinus in the beginning. Many protagonists in works of fiction have an immensely powerful ability that helps them save the day but has a big drawback or ends up killing them. I was a firm believer that hard work (with a bit of luck) will get you the strength you need and, for the most part, I was proven right.

Then Shuten happened. I vivdly remembered the encounter with the Oni and it made me realize something. Even with my current rate of progression, the next time I face Zeth's General, I probably won't be strong enough. I was improving everyday and Athena pushed me to my limits but Zeth wasn't sitting idle during these three months. Many monster clans disappeared during this time on Earth and some were renowned healers.

"I'm not asking for a Godly spell that can for sure kill Shuten. I'm asking for something that can help me fight back against him...even if it's just a little. Please." I bowed to her and she stared at me in silence before speaking.

"Why are you asking me?"

"Huh?" I raised my head in confusion.

"Why are you asking me for a Forbidden Spell? You obviously have your mind made up so why come to me? Why don't you go to Demeter or Maven?" Athena asked and I smiled.

"Because your my teacher and you've helped me get this far. What kind of student would I be if I didn't ask for your permission?"

"..." Athena was stumped and opened for mouth to say something but nothing came out. Then she blushed and scratched the back of her head. It got redder as I kept staring at it. "Stop looking at me like that..." The Goddess got up and quickly walked to the door of the cabin.

"Is that a yes?" Athena stopped at the door and sighed.

"Give me a day to think about it."

The next morning, a book was dropped on my lap while I was eating breakfast and I hugged a blushing Athena in happiness.

* * *

**Back to the Present**

The Forbidden Spell Athena gave me was a Norse Strengthening Spell that drastically increases strength, speed and endurance along with your reflexes. Something I learned when forming the spell is that its as easy to learn as a 1st Order spell. The reason they are so rarely used is because of the risk involved and ordinary magician's would never be able to get their hands on one. The first time I used it I could feel my power skyrocket and when I sparred with Athena, I was able to force her to use a portion of her divine power but I noticed my Chi reserves being used up quickly. When I deactivated the spell, I felt a wave of nausea hit me. Not does using the spell tire me out faster then using regular Strengthening magic, my Chi takes longer to regenerate as well. Athena trained with me to increase my proficiency with the spell and I can use it for 10 minutes before all of my Chi is drained.

"I must say, I was not expecting you to have a form that can match my Dragon Man." Mokuzai said, his dragon head speaking in a demonic voice and I rolled my shoulders.

"I'm full of surprises." I held both Demon Swords once again and pointed at the Heir. "Shall we?"

Mokuzai's dragon head smiled (which was terrifying to look at) and lunged at me with his Holy Sword.

* * *

Shinen Kesshite watched the battle unfold from a safe distance, her emotionless eyes having difficulty tracking the two men as they battled across the island. The hill they were originally fighting on was destroyed when they clashed and they flew up in the air to continue their battle. Sending blasts of lightning and wind blades with the Seven Branched Sword, she watched the human known as Pierce meet them with raw physical strength. Even from her distance, she could feel the shock waves when Pierce clashed his Demon Swords against Mokuzai's Holy Sword and she knew that the Sacred Beast user was the loser in their exchanges.

Shinen has been called many things in her life. Talented, beautiful, powerful, dense. Granted, she didn't understand how she was the last one, she knew she was special. She learned things far faster then any other Nekomata in her clan and her use of her clan's signature purifying flames surpassed some elders. She didn't get why her matriarch didn't want her to face either of the humans until the very end.

She got it now.

"I think you should thank me." Shinen said and looked down at the two prone beings at her feet. The Kamaitachi brothers from the waiting room lied at her feet, both saying nothing as they watched the battle. When Shinen arrived, she sensed the Yokai brothers sneaking up to the two humans and she stopped them. More out of pity then actually caring for the brothers, they were lucky she was here or they wouldn't survive a second in that mess.

"T-Those are humans?" The younger brother, Chīsana, asked and flinched whenever a stray bolt of lightning went their direction.

"...Thank you." Shinen chuckled when the older brother, Ōkina, took her words seriously. Her eyes returned to the battle and she noticed that while Pierce was dealing more damage to the Heir, he was starting to get slower. Mokuzai noticed this and started hurling giant balls of lightning at the man, forcing him to dodge. Getting a minute to breathe, Mokuzai created a large magic circle that covered the sky and leaves of every color started to flow out.

_**"****Doragon no kisetsu!" **_Four massive dragons were created from the assortment of leaves and they rushed at Pierce. He slashed at the dragons and they crumpled but they quickly reassembled themselves. He was smacked by one of the dragons and was sent flying into a mountain, burrowing him deep inside. Mokuzai sent a tornado inside the hole, ripping it apart from the inside but Pierce flew out relatively unharmed. The Kushihashi Heir flew forward with his dragons behinds him and Pierce lifted his purple Demon Sword.

**_"__Svalr Hregg!" _**A blue wave expanded from Pierce and it froze the dragons along with Mokuzai's legs. A magic circle appeared over the sword and a snowstorm came out of it, hurdling towards the Heir. Mokuzai managed to put up a wind barrier in time to block the attack and she saw him struggle to hold back the blizzard that covered the sky. By the time the storm cleared, it was too late for Mokuzai to dodge Pierce's next attack. With both of his swords becoming meter long blades of Chi, Mokuzai tried to block it with his Holy Sword and was sent flying to the ground.

'It's over...' Shinen thought as she saw the Heir's wrist snap under the blow and the island shook. A large crater rested where the Heir fell and the Seven Branched Sword lied slightly cracked on a tree. The Nekoshou followed Pierce's form as he slowly levitated to the ground and his Touki turned back to it's regular color. She stood up.

"W-Where are you going?" Ōkina asked when he saw her walking away.

"The battles over, there's nothing left to see." She saw everything she needed to know. Even tired, she had a feeling she wouldn't win against the human and that reporting back to her matriarch was more important. After what she has planned anyway...

Shinen stared at Pierce as he walked towards the center of the crater and left when he was out of sight. The brothers watched her walk away in silence before Chīsana turned to his older brother.

"Do you think she would have given back our artifact back if we asked nicely?"

"..." Ōkina just slapped the back of his brother's head.

* * *

**Back to Pierce **

I walked up the prone Mokuzai and crouched down to pick up his artifact. It was a replica of the Yasakani no Magatama. Pocketing the replica, Mokuzai started to shuffle and opened his eyes to see me standing over him. He tried to sit up but struggled. He was back in his regular form with a couple of large swords wounds across his body and broken wrists. The fact that he hasn't been teleported out is because he's resisting the transport. I watched struggle for a little longer and decided to help him sit up.

"You lost man, there's no need to keep going." I tried to tell him and he wryly smiled.

"I've never been so thoroughly defeated before today. To think it'd be someone from my generation is even more humbling."

"If it makes you feel any better, your the first guy I've beaten that isn't a complete sore loser, well done...You're not going to give up are you?" I sighed at the tenacious look in his eyes and proceeded to knock him out. I didn't do this at the beginning because throughout the fight, he wasn't emitting that much killing intent and was trying to incapacitate me. The moment Mokuzai was taken out of the tournament, I sat down and took a deep breathe. I hissed when the adrenaline went away and I could feel the strain on my muscles. I've gotten used it since I first tried it but it still wasn't a pleasant experience. I smiled when I saw that my Chi reserves wasn't too drained and stood up to go find Aindrea. I flew up into the air and followed after the aura of the Demigod to a cut off portion of island. The surroundings were destroyed with the Demigod standing over the beaten form of Itazu. While Aindrea had his fair share of injuries, it was incomparable to Itazu's and the Monkey Yokai was taken out of the tournament. "Catch." I tossed Mokuzai's replica to Aindrea but he threw it back.

"No thanks, I've had my fun. You can finish the rest of the tournament if you want, I'm done." Aindrea said and I put away the replica at his decision. We waited until the timer was over and he wished me luck in the final phase. I was transported to a small ring that rested on top of a tall Pagoda. The Pagoda overlooked a city and I turned to see Sarutahiko standing on the side, smiling at me.

"...Oh good God, its not you I have to fight is it?" I whined and the Kami chuckled.

"No, I'm just the judge but that was some fight you had against the Kushihashi. Been awhile since I've seen a Sacred Beast holder beaten by another human." Sarutahiko said and a light shined across from me. Shinen appeared from the light and the Kami stepped forward. "I would like to congratulate both of you for reaching this far. You've proven yourselves as the strongest amongst hundreds and you should be proud." The Kami floated up and crossed his arms. "Take your stances!" We faced each other at his command and readied our weapons. The tension was palpable as the wind blew through the Pagoda. "Begin!"

White flames engulfed Shinen's katana as she rushed me and I blocked her sword with Tyrfing. I was shocked when I felt the Demon Sword's ability be rendered unusable by the flames and pushed her back. The Nekoshou was incredibly fast, her swings coming at me in blurs but I blocked them all the same and began my counter attack. She quickly became on the defensive and I pushed her to the edge of the ring. I was momentarily stunned when she disappeared from my sight and hastily turned around to block her thrust.

"Arghh!" I gritted my teeth when her katana pierced through my Touki and stabbed into my shoulder. Enduring the flames, I slashed at her weapon and it was sliced under the superior weapons. Not giving up yet, she started to infuse Senjutsu in her Touki. Her hair and nails got longer as she grew an extra pair of tails. **_"Ferro Corpus, Celeritas Decem!" _**We battled across the ring, her surprisingly sharp nails parrying my Demon Swords. Dodging a Youjutsu spell that melted a hole in the floor, I successfully left a shallow gash on her chest with Dáinsleif. Stumbling from the frost, I kicked her trough a pillar of the Pagoda and she fell to the ground. Standing over her, I placed both swords against her neck. "You give up?" I asked as she spat out a clog of blood and stared me in the eyes. What I thought was going to be a admission of surrender when she opened her mouth was instead-

"Let me have your child."

"..."

"..."

"...Huh?" Stunned by the words, she used the moment to shove me away and get up. I stared at her as she wiped the blood from her lips in anger. "Hey, that was a pretty cheap trick! Using that in a fight is just poor manners!" Shinen made a confused face at my outburst.

"That was no trick. After this battle is over, I would like to copulate with you and make a powerful offspring."

"Oh...then no thank you. I'm in a happy relationship of two working on three. I got enough on my plate." I respectfully declined the offer and she furrowed her brows.

"Why not? I have no need for a relationship, I solely need your seed and will raise the child in my clan." I looked at like she was crazy.

"Yeah, no. I'm not a one night stand kind of guy and I'm sure as hell not going to have a child just to never see it again. Call me old fashioned."

"...That's very strange."

"How is that strange!? I'm the poster boy for strange and that is not! Your thinking is what's strange!" I exclaimed and Shinen made a frustrated face.

"...You guys remember this is a fighting tournament, right?" Sarutahiko deadpanned from the side. Choosing to refocus, I sighed when the Nekoshou persisted and I refused her again.

"Then how about this, if I win this battle then you must give me a child and allow me to raise it as the next Guardian of the Nekomata Clan. If I lose, then I will become your vassal and follow you for the end of my days." I blinked at the offer, not expecting her to make such terms. So if I lose, I have to sleep with a beautiful Nekoshou and give her a child or get her as my servant if I win. That was a win-win scenario no matter how you looked at it. Expect for the fact that I'm currently on a quest to kill a God. The matriarch of the Nekomatas, Magari, is incredibly protective (controlling) of her clan and has the final say in anything they do. The odds that she'll allow one of her strongest and talented members of her clan on a such a dangerous mission is very low. I was about to charge forward to end this fight until an idea entered my mind and I grinned.

"Deal." Shinen and even Sarutahiko looked at me in shock. Ignoring their expressions, I put away my Demon Swords and stretched to limber up. Shinen perked up and readied herself, taking a crouched position. She may not be able to join me and the team in the quest to kill Zeth but...there should be no problem in joining a neutral organization, right?

Smiling as the soon to be member of my Mercenary group charged at me, I chanted a spell.

Then my Touki turned rose gold.

* * *

**2 Hours Later, Furutsubaki Temple**

I walked with Amaterasu on a narrow road that led deeper into a rock formation. The full moon was out as I jumped over a small gap and grunted on landing. I rubbed my side as the Sun Goddess floated down next to me.

"Are you okay?" She asked with a worried face and I waved my hand.

"It's okay, it's nothing major. This is what happens when I use that Strengthening Spell twice in a row." I led the Sun Goddess to a crevice in the rock and motioned her to enter. "Goddesses first." Amaterasu smiled and walked through the crevice. What rested on the other side was a flat area that had an abundance of white flowers that shined under the moonlight and fire flies flying around. Taking out a large blanket to cover the ground, Amaterasu sat down on it and I took out a basket full of Japanese pastries. The Sun Goddess munched on some mochi while observing the area.

"This place is quite beautiful, how did you find it?"

"I came back and asked Niwashi if it was okay to bring someone here." I said with a shrug and Amaterasu hummed.

"Well it's certainly romantic. It's funny actually, I didn't beck you as the type."

"...I would be offended by that if you weren't completely justified." I never really tried to be romantic, I just go with the flow of things and try to work with what I got. 'That's actually how I live my life actually...' Wistfully thinking on my life path, I took out my winnings for the tournament and looked it over. "This will really get me into Shinto Heaven?" I held a golden Talisman that emitted a strong divine aura and Amaterasu nodded.

"Yep! Activate the spell within and it will open a portal directly into my personal abode in Takamagahara."

"Cool. When I use this, that'll make it the third mythological Heaven I've been to." Amaterasu tilted her head at that.

"Third? I know you've been to Olympus plenty of times but where was the second one?"

"Asgard, I was there for two days. Granted, I was asleep for most of that time, it still counts." I said while eating a cookie and the Sun Goddess pondered at my words.

"Athena spoke of the injuries you've gained against Shuten but she didn't speak about where you recovered. I didn't know you've been to Asgard...I don't know a lot about you Pierce." She said this quietly and I frowned when her beautiful face became solemn. I knew where her sadness came from. The moment this festival was over, we were probably not going to meet for awhile with her responsibility as the Chief Goddess and my quest. Asking the Goddess out was a heat of the moment kind of thing but I didn't want to leave it on a bad note. Lying flat on the tarp, I got comfortable and looked at the downcast Sun Goddess (see what I did there).

"So what do you want to know?"

"Huh?" She lifted her head and stared at me in confusion.

"You don't know a lot about me, so let's change that. I don't know a lot about you either."

"What are talking about? You know plenty." Amaterasu said, like it obvious but I shook my head.

"I know the Leader of the Shinto Pantheon and the Sun Goddess of Japan. I want to learn about the game loving and overworked woman behind that. What did you do as a kid, how was your relationship with your parents, were you a rebellious teen who that thought you were the next great thing since bread. I want to know that Amaterasu."

"..." Amaterasu stared at me in silence before she smiled and took a seat next to me. "I'd like that." I smiled back at the Goddess.

"Great. Now, this may be a terrible time to ask but...you never did answer my question on Izanami." I said, reminding her of my first time praying and she rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Fine, but it won't be as interesting as you might think." She warned but I waited and listened patiently as she began her tale. "My mother was a Primordial Goddess that was born in the Ancient God's Era and she carved out her own territory with her father's prized spear, the Tenkei. In her journey, she met my father Izanagi..."

* * *

And done. Nothing like a date with a Goddess under the moonlight after beating the strongest warriors a supernatural faction can throw at you to make someone feel alive. I hope you enjoyed!


	37. Chapter 36

Answers to reviewers statements or questions

**Flamingp0tat0: **Pierce is currently as strong as an Average Ultimate-Class being. If push came to shove, he could fight a Satan Class being but he'll more then likely lose if he doesn't try to end it fast. He's far from facing Chief God-Class beings like Zeth or an incredibly powerful Great Yokai like Shuten.

**Gobert600**: She will return soon. Pierce will get his Devil Maid don't you worry.

* * *

**Chapter 36: Civil War Season**

Disclaimer: I do not own Highschool DxD and the fact I have said that for 37 chapters is actually incredible. I figured I would have run out of ideas at this point. Thank Ichiei for being wrong. The OCs belong to me.

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – _'Neat'_

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**2 Days Later, London**

"So you guys just…talked?" Aindrea asked with a strange expression and I nodded.

"Pretty much."

"For the whole night?"

"Yep."

"…"

"…"

"…Really?"

"Aindrea, he's told you what happened multiple times, just accept it." Vargas said as he walked in front of us. Aindrea wasn't satisfied from the way he scowled (though it's hard to tell since he's always scowling) and asked me to clarify one more time.

"Look man, we went to a nice picnic spot, exchanged life stories and had an overall good time. Nothing steamy happened if that's what you're asking."

"So you had a date with the Sun Goddess of the Japanese Kami and didn't even try to make a move?" Aindrea asked and I snorted.

"I don't kiss and tell on the first date."

"…We kissed on our first date." Melissa furrowed her brows but I held up a finger.

"Ah, you kissed me. That's different."

"…And when you kissed me before we even dated?" Maven asked with crossed arms and I smirked.

"I didn't tell, did I?" I laughed at the collective groans I got. The team and I walked along the busy capital of England, having just finished our time in Japan. The final day of the festival was an all out party with every Yokai Clan coming to the Grand Shrine of the Shinto Gods. The Shinto Gods mingled among the Yokai population, doing different games and events with each clan. Being the winner of the Youma Tournament, many Yokai Clan leaders came forward to meet me and congratulated me on my victory. Some leaders actually started to pitch their daughters as a way to get me into their clan though I barely heard them as I was more focused on the variety of food they had at the tables. Fusao came along and shooed away the leaders soon after.

At some point in the party, Shinen came forward with her matriarch and it went like I expected. Magari was not going to allow the most promising Nekoshou from her clan to become my vassal but she did offer me to come visit the Nekomata clan and they would treat me as an honored guest. While a part of me wanted to explain how I wanted Shinen to join my mercenary group, I instead asked the Nekoshou for her magic signature and planned to have her join in the future.

'I really need to get to work on an actual system for my Association.' I kept in contact with Dean since I met the young Devil and he's been doing well for himself. Helping him set up a main base in Constantinople with Safiye's assistance, the Devil has traveled the world and has gained a decent level of experience. Apparently, Liam became bored with the Sultan's Palace after the whole thing with Froid and had chosen to go traveling with the Devil (they were now somewhere in Russia, being temporary body guards for some traveling merchant). While I did have plenty of time when it came to my life span, finding people for management should be done as soon as possible. Having a rough idea on where to start, we came to our destination. "Yo Thallo, how's it going?" I called out to the Olympian gate keeper when we entered and she lifted her head with a smile.

"Hello Pierce, everything has been alright. How was the festival?"

"It was really fun; you should take a vacation next time and come with us."

"I'll try." Thallo answered and stood up to open the gate for us. As Adrian and Vargas stepped through the portal, I rubbed my space ring.

"Here, I got this for you." I held out the souvenir I got for the gate keeper and she gingerly took it. It was an ornate Wind Chime that I got from a Yokai stand. Like every product sold there, it had a magical effect so that the chimes clinked in a musical tune depending on the mood of the nearest being. After a lot of pestering, I learned Thallo did indeed have a hobby and it was collecting Wind Chimes from across the globe. She observed the chime before walking over and hanging it along with two other chimes from Asia.

"Thank you, I love it." Thallo said and I nodded before turning to enter the portal. "Wait, I actually have something to give you too." I watched Thallo go behind the desk she always sat at and take out a black notebook. She walked up and held it out for me. Curious, I took the book and rolled it over but I couldn't find a title.

"What is this?" I asked in confusion and she gained a bashful look.

"That's my first draft of the story I'm writing. Forgive me but I used you as inspiration for my main character. I hope you don't mind." I tilted my head at that and observed the book.

"So you want me to give you my opinion on it?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble." I shrugged and accepted the request, not seeing a problem with it. Thallo became happy at my words before appearing hesitant. "I-I also have one more thing to ask."

"What?" I asked as Thallo shuffled under my gaze and steeled her features.

"Please let me read your story."

"…Eh?" What story? My unspoken question went unanswered as Thallo kept speaking.

"I know you said you were still at the beginning and you probably haven't had the time to work on it since you were training but I would really like to read it. Your unique idea gave me the drive write my own story so please…allow me the honor to read it." Thallo asked and I stood there gob smacked. Memories about speaking with her about the Butterfly Theory and my promise to allow her to read my nonexistent story started coming back. We stood there in silence for a minute and I gave my answer.

"Okay." I do not know what possessed me to say that. Maybe it was the fact that Thallo was asking with the purest aura I've ever seen on a person. Maybe it was because I didn't want to let down a close friend on a promise, no matter how random it was.

Or maybe it was because the moment I said yes, Thallo perked up in way that matched the adorableness of a small puppy. Regardless, I stiffly stepped through the gate as Thallo walked back to her post with a skip in her step.

My guilt kept growing as the Wind Chimes clinked musically to the gate keeper's improved mood.

* * *

**Top of Olympus, Pierce's Room**

My room had gotten a couple of upgrades since my first time arriving in Olympus. Like every room in the domain of the Gods, they can be manually shifted in size and design to fit the owner's needs. I never bothered with the functions early on because I was always going out to fight the Generals or to explore. It's only when I started my training in the Elysian Fields that I increased the size of my room and added certain aspects. A king sized bed, a high end kitchen, a section of the room that acted as a miniature library and a bathroom that looked like it belonged to a six star suite in modern times. Maven had a hand in making the library since she supplied the books and when she slept in my room, she didn't feel like walking back to hers. The mage in question was currently using a desk to mix potions together while Melissa was taking a nap on my bed; using Jade and Denki as pillows (the cloud fur on the Yokai was as soft as one).

"…Well aren't you all comfortable." Athena entered the room and said with a raised brow. The Goddess of Wisdom, in a rare event, had chosen not to don her armor and was wearing a tasteful white dress I got her from the festival. The dress hugged the Goddess' womanly physique and enhanced her already gorgeous body.

"Hey Athena, what rhymes with Dakin?" Getting a confused "Hakon?", I thanked the Goddess and worked on the second chapter of my story. I started writing when I arrived to my room and it was easier than I thought. Using my past life's name for the main character in my book, I wrote about a man that was trapped in a video game world where superpowers existed and had to grow stronger to eventually match the "true" main character that may or may not turn evil (I was having more fun than I thought I would). "So what's up?"

"I came to see how you were doing after the festival…that and Amaterasu wanted me to check up on Denki." Athena said with a smile and rubbed the head of the Yokai, sparks streaking across its fur. I snorted.

"It's only been a day since I left with it, what could happen to it in that-" I stopped when the women in the room (sans the napping Melissa) gave me a deadpan. "…Oh nevermind." Athena rolled her eyes when I grumpily returned to writing and walked over to sit next to me. The Goddess started to ask me questions on my fight against the Kushihashi Heir and how I felt using my Forbidden Spell in real combat. She pleasingly nodded when I told her that I had a firm control of the spell throughout the fight and was strong enough to cast it again in my final match.

"Good, I was worried since our sparring never went beyond love taps but I'm glad you could handle it." When I heard her say that, I wanted to comment how those "love taps" could probably leave a High Class Rook bruised but held it back. Instead, I blankly stared at the Goddess for a second before returning to my writing. For her part, she didn't say anything about my pause and relaxed in her chair. Getting the Goddess of Wisdom to help me on the book while she was here, Melissa woke up with a start and stretched in a very feline manner.

"Have a good nap?" I asked as her leopard tail swayed back and forth slowly.

"Yep! Nothing like sleeping in an Olympian bed to make me forget about being tortured by my parents for an entire week."

"And three days at a festival doesn't?"

"That helped but this really is the finishing touch." Melissa said and Athena snorted.

"Well then, you can thank my father for that. If there's one thing that man is good at its enjoying life and he had Olympus modified over the years to fit his forte." While the Goddess said that with a resigned sigh, I could still feel the underlying pride she had for the God King of Olympus. Years of debauchery in his early life aside, Zeus has made a real attempt to right the wrongs of his past and be a true leader to his people (something Athena has brought up more than once). Knowing that the leader of Olympus eventually enters the Isolation Field to fight Trihexa to protect the world and the fact that he's one of the few gods that wants to make peace with the rest of the supernatural factions, I fully believed Athena's claim.

"I mean it's no superior Magic like the Norse or great Spiritual energy like the Shinto but yeah, heavenly beds are pretty impressive." But that didn't stop me from making snarky remarks. I smiled as Athena glared at me.

"You're an ass."

"Just saying how it is." I shrugged. "Am I wrong?" Athena motioned to say something but stopped and fell into thought; brainstorming what else Olympus was known for. A minute passed of silence and by the end of it, Athena's face was bright red. "Well then…" I lifted my legs onto my desk and went back to writing, a smug look all over my face.

"You know Lady Athena; I think Pierce would improve from some…light sparring after using his new spell." I blinked as Melissa's words reached my ears and I turned to see the innocent look on her face.

"Huh?" Athena's eyes shined at the suggestion.

"Why that's a great idea! I didn't want to over strain you since it was a recently discovered Strengthening Spell but from what I heard of your fight, we obviously haven't reached your full capabilities!"

"W-Wait what? What's going on here?" I asked in confusion and Maven nodded in agreement.

"It's for the best. Knowing your limit will help you for future battles and improvements."

"…" I narrowed my eyes at the women in the room and crossed my arms. "Oh…I see what's happening here."

"Oh? What do you mean?" Ignoring the glint in Athena's eyes showing she was enjoying this, I sneered.

"To suddenly join forces to corner me is quite smart, I will admit that. But you will never get me to apologize! I regret nothing! You hear me!? Nothing!...On a completely unrelated note, did I mention that dress looks amazing on you." I added and the Goddess of Wisdom rolled her eyes, standing up under my nervous gaze.

"Before I forget, I came to tell you all to get ready for later. A messenger from Asgard will arrive and they have information about Zeth's plans."

"Who's the messenger?"

"The Chief Valkyrie, Brynhildr." We became surprised, not expecting it to be someone we knew. We were to arrive in the Meeting Hall in a couple of hours and wait for the Chief Valkyrie. "She plans to bring a couple others with her as well so be prepared." Having told us what to do, I stood up and nodded.

"Got it we'll be there." I said with conviction and walked passed Athena…right to the door of the room. A soft hand grabbed my arm.

"Are you forgetting something?" Athena grinned at the way I started to sweat again.

"O-Oh, right. The training. Here's the thing, it's getting late and I-"

"It's 12 in the afternoon." The Shadow Leopard interrupted. "Plenty of time until Brynhildr arrives. Don't you think?"

"Indeed."

"…" I stared at the teasing looks sent from my girlfriends before looking at the beautiful smile on Athena's face. Then I chuckled. "Sorry, it's just funny." I said when I saw their confused expressions. "This is the first time I've seen you guys like this…It's nice to see my girls working together, even if it's to get back at me for my big mouth." I got blank stares after staying that, which quickly turned to bashful looks and I gave an amused smile at the new mood in the room. Melissa curled up embarrassment while Maven went back to reading, acting like her face wasn't bright pink. The biggest reaction however, was from Athena. The Goddess of Wisdom didn't turn red or stutter, hell she didn't even flinch. But for the first time since I met her, I actually felt her aura and I figured out why.

My words shocked her so much; she unintentionally let down her aura concealment (I never asked her to show me her aura during training). Athena quickly collected herself and put it back up but it was too late. I already burned the wave of emotions I felt from the Goddess's aura into my brain and from the look she gave me, she knew it too.

No amount of mountain busting punches or lightning fast kicks sent my way in the spar could get the stupid grin off my face.

* * *

**5 Hours Later, Meeting Hall**

Everyone was gathered around a large round table that was made of marble, lounging about as we waited for the guests from Asgard. Besides the usual member of the party, some of the Olympians Gods chose to join us. Apollon played a gentle tune on his harp to pass the time as Demeter spoke to Maven and Samantha. I could hear them talking about magic theories and the like before Aphrodite approached me. The Goddess of Beauty sat on the chair next to me and stared at me accusingly (to my confusion).

"What did you do?" Quirking a brow to her question, Aphrodite elaborated. "Athena's has been out of it since you sparred with her this morning. What did you say to her?" Now understanding the problem, I told of her of the Goddess's reaction to my words earlier. "Well that explains why she can't seem to focus for more than five minutes. I swear with how lost she looked; I bet Artemis could finally successfully prank her. Zeus knows she's been trying for centuries." Giving a small smile at her banter, I looked at the Goddess of Beauty and hesitated before asking her something that was on my mind.

"Hey, she's not mad at me for what I said, is she?" From what I knew of Athena and the time we spent together, I doubted she got angry over that. We flirted plenty times before but this was the first time she reacted like that. 'Did I cross a line somewhere?'

"It's not you, believe me. She's just trying get a handle on her feelings; it's been a good long while since she's had to do so." Aphrodite explained and I accepted that, remembering what Athena told about her past lovers. Contrary to popular belief (and established myth), Athena was not a Virgin Goddess. Maybe in a bygone age where Zeus was a controlling tyrant and she was a young Goddess trying to keep her father happy, Athena has been with several men over the years but they never lasted. Her last lover passed a century or so ago and she's never taken another since then. "Give her time, she'll come around." I made a weird face at the way the Goddess tried to comfort me.

"You don't find it off putting that your sister has feelings for a man that's in a relationship with three other women?" I asked, curious about Aphrodite's thought process and her response surprised me.

"I want Athena to be happy Pierce. Being a daughter to the rulers of the Greek Pantheon is not as glorious as you think, emotionally anyway. Much of her younger years was spent following around our father, during his "golden years". She abandoned a lot of things like friends and fun for him until she realized it wasn't worth it. When she did get out of his shadow, her reputation was already set and that made getting out there hard. Along with the majority of her relationship experience coming from this family…it's honestly a miracle she turned out the way she is today." Aphrodite made a wry smile after her speech.

"And you think I can make her happy?"

"…You're a good man. Flawed, like everyone else but at least you own up to it. I know if it came down to it, you'd do anything to keep her happy. That's all I can ask for." The Goddess of Beauty stopped at that and we stared at each other, our eyes never leaving the other. After a long moment, I leaned back against my chair and gave a fond smile.

"You really are an awesome sister, you know that?" Aphrodite scuffed.

"Well someone has to be. Imagine if Demeter or Artemis did it, now that'd just be a disaster." Said Goddess of Agriculture turned her head when she heard her name.

"What?" We chuckled at Demeter's confusion. We didn't have to wait too long in the hall before Athena arrived with four people behind her. Brynhildr and Gunhild came up her left, smiling at the people gathered in the room. The team stood up and came forward to say our hellos, glad to see the two Valkyries again.

"Got to admit, I didn't expect to see you all so soon after Scandinavia." Brynhildr said while giving a hug to Adrian. "Not that I'm complaining."

"It's good to see you Brynhildr, staying out of trouble?" The Chief Valkyrie shrugged at Adrian's question.

"More or less, kind of hard to get into trouble when you're stuck in Valhalla doing paper work." Brynhildr turned to the table and bowed to the Gods in the room. "I want to thank you all for allowing us on your mountain; I promise you won't regret doing so."

"It's no problem, Odin has long proven his good intentions to Olympus and it would be unbecoming for us to not reply in kind." Apollon spoke, placing his instrument to the side. "Though I am curious about all the secrecy."

"It's for the best, we can't have information leaking that we arrived here or it'll make the parties related apprehensive." Brynhildr turned to us after saying that. "We actually need your team's help." That threw us for a loop and I peeked at the two others that came along with the Valkyries. They were a man and woman respectively. They were both good looking with black hair and noble attire. Their most defining features were their pointy ears and gray skin.

'Dark Elves…' I watched the woman stepped forward and bowed to us.

"Greetings, my name is Emma Flostenebris and this is my ward, Elijah. We are in desperate need of your help."

"You're from the Royal House of Flostenebris?" Athena asked Emma and she nodded. "I'm surprised you had the time to make the trip here, considering what's happening in your realm."

"That's why she's here. You've all heard of the Civil War happening in Svartalfheim correct?" Everyone in the room nodded. Athena had spoken about the Civil War happening in the realm of the Dark Elves during our training and there were two factions duking it out. It was over the enslavement of another race in Svartalfheim that have been around as long as the Elves have, the Dwarves. It's been going on for a little over a year and all of Svartalfheim was engulfed in the war.

'The Vampires in Romania, the Devils in the Underworld, and now the Elves in Svartalfheim? It really is civil war season.' Idly thinking on the status of many supernatural races in current times, I listened to Emma as she explained her reason for coming. The Dark Elf was part of the Royal Family that fought against the enslavement of the Dwarves and they were doing well in the war until a month ago. Her father, the Lord of his kingdom and leader of the Coalition, went missing one day. They tried everything they could to find him but he was nowhere to be found. Seeing that a leader was needed, her eldest brother tried to take the crown and lead the people.

Her eldest sister had a problem with that. So began the typical story of siblings fighting over the throne. Factions were formed within the Royal Family and battles happened regularly between them. The other Dark Elf leaders gathered by their father to fight were disgusted by their behavior and distanced themselves from the Royal Family, splitting the armies of the Dark Elves even further. Emma's side was slowly being overwhelmed.

"Um, may I?" Raising my hand to speak, Emma stopped and I spoke. "This is obviously a very serious problem happening for your people and you have my condolences but…why are you telling us this?" That got a couple glances from the others but they didn't say anything, probably thinking the same. "If you need help then why didn't you just ask the Norse Gods? I mean, the Chief Valkyrie is right next to you." Emma shook her head.

"We can't because of the Aesir-Dökká Pact."

"…Let's pretend for a second that I actually don't know what that is, why is that stopping the Gods of Asgard from going to Svartalfheim and raining down lightning, vengeance, and ravens on your enemies?"

"Because Odin made an oath not to mix himself with the Dark Elves after all he's done to them." Gunhild answered this time and I tilted my head.

"What did he do? Sleep with the Queen of the Dark Elves?" I asked jokingly but blinked when they stayed silent. "Did he really?"

"Among other things." Brynhildr cleared her throat and made a serious face. "But he did cause large amounts of damage to their population in the Ancient Times and killed many of their Ancestors…some which didn't deserve it." The Valkyries gained a shameful expression and I chose to redirect the conversation.

"Okay, so I get you can't ask for their help since they would probably attack the Gods before anything else but why us? We're busy with our own war right about now; I don't think you need that piled on."

"Actually, that's part of the reason why we asked. Guess who's leading the Dökkálfar Faction? I'll give you a hint; he should have stopped at Surtr's Champion." Brynhildr said and my eyes widened.

"Oh don't tell me…" I started and she nodded.

"Talien." Everyone on the team gave collective groans.

"Well that explains why we couldn't find him these past few months. He wasn't on Earth." Aphrodite said.

"I guess we're going to Svartalfheim." Adrian made his final decision causing Emma to sigh in relief.

"Thank you, I know I'm forcing your hand but I have no other option." Demeter shook her head

"It's not your fault a power hungry Elf King is wrecking your home." We all agreed with the Goddess's words and the Dark Elf relaxed a bit. I personally found Emma brave for what she did; asking for help from a faction that your race hates all to save said race couldn't have been easy, I could respect her for that. "So what's the plan?" Emma recollected herself at Demeter's question.

"We need to find my father. He's the only one that can stop the internal fighting and gather the other kings of Svartalfheim again; they won't trust our word after my sibling's actions."

"But I thought you couldn't find him." I said and Brynhildr spoke up.

"They couldn't but Asgard chose to look into this when she came to us and we have an idea where he could be. The location is actually another reason we wanted your help."

"Where is he?" The Chief Valkyrie grinned at my question.

"Tell me Pierce…have you ever been to Jotunheim?"

* * *

**1 Hour Later, Pierce's Room**

The meeting ended pretty quickly with a plan being formed with the others. One half of the group was going with Emma to the Land of the Giants to find her father while the other follows Elijah to Svartalfheim to help the war effort. The one's going to Jotunheim was Vargas, Melissa, Maven and I. The main reason we even considered splitting up was because the civil war hit a bit of a snag since Emma's father disappeared. While the Svartálfar faction was reorganizing itself, the other side seemed to halt their march at key points. But that didn't mean they stopped fighting, they just fighting as hard as before. Reports said that the Dwarfs enslaved by Talien's faction were being moved around and forced to create weapons for him. They were using their opponent's internal strife to gear up and could attack anytime.

'Because this is just what a Monster God needs, an Elf Army with loose morals and a race known for making magical weapons at his every whim.' Not to mention if Talien does take over Svartalfheim, it'll mean another realm as his base. Brynhildr said that if the Dark Elf really took over all of Svartalfheim, the Norse Gods would invade and retch it back from Zeth's hands (they wanted Emma's side to win so they can avoid this). I looked over to see Denki and Jade facing each other, chattering and barking away. I walked to them and crouched down to their level. "You guys ready?"

"…"

"…"

"…Good enough." I shrugged and placed Jade on my shoulder, the lightning dog following at my side. I learned that while many Yokais could learn any language like a Devil can, some Yokai are so in tuned with their animal side that they choose to live their lives as one. That's not to say they are mindless or savage, that's just their life style choice (Jade could talk but she's too young right now). On the way to the portal, I met with Athena who was leaning on the side wall. "…Okay, how long were you waiting there?" I deadpanned, not seeing her holding a book or anything for that matter. The Goddess blushed lightly at the question and coughed into her mouth.

"I came to wish you luck in Jotunheim." Side stepping my question, her face became stern. "The odds that you'll come into conflict with the Giants there are small but not impossible. Keep your guard up." Brynhildr made it clear that the Aesir, Vanir, or anyone under them (such as the Valkyries) would have a very difficult time getting anywhere in Jotunheim. Why? Because they hated the Norse Gods; more specifically the Ruler of Asgard, Odin. While there are many theories as to why the Jötunn hate the Norse Gods, such as the rivalry between Freyr and Surtr or that two of the leading figures in Ragnarok are part Giant; there was a clear cause. Odin's most famous (or infamous depending on where you stand), deed.

The Murder of the Primordial Jötunn, Ymir. Granted, the Chief God didn't do it alone but that did little to ease their anger. The Giants of Jotunheim were a rather peaceful race. They never went out to wage war against the Aesir for the Raven God's actions but they never forgot either. Brynhildr told us to hide our affiliation with them or things would get complicated very fast.

"Chief Gods are real pieces of work…" Mumbling that under my breath, I passed by Athena and felt her grab my hand. I looked back at her to see a sad smile.

"I know. I won't stay here and defend their actions when they were young; being hundreds of years old is enough time to mature but they are trying now. I hope you can accept that." I stared at the Goddess with a wry smile.

"I'm not judging them Athena; everyone has moments in their life they aren't proud of and I see Gods are no different…apparently." I squeezed her hand back. "It just makes me curious. After all the bad shit they've done and seen in their lives, why do they believe in peace between factions so much?" With how old Odin and Zeus were, I'd assume their experience would make them cynical and realistic (canon proved otherwise but it was still a food for thought).

"I asked my father the same thing before but he didn't give me a clear answer."

"What did he say?"

"Conquering everywhere your gaze touches for thousands of years…is hollow compared to living with the ones you love for a single lifetime." My eyebrows lifted slightly when Athena finished. I had only one thing to say to that.

"I think we can add being cryptic to your families' specialty." I smiled when Athena blankly stared at me and kicked my shin.

"You had to ruin the moment."

"And that's _my_ specialty." Giving the Goddess of Wisdom a peck on the cheek (earning me a small blush), I let go of her hand and walked away. "See you later Athena, I'll bring you back some souvenirs from Jotunheim and Svartalfheim."

"I'm counting on it…" Waving at Athena's last words, though it was more of a whisper then anything, my mind started to wander. It was quite a question. Would you rather have the entire world at your fingers tip, to do with however you please and have countless beings underneath you but be hated and feared or…live a long and happy life with the ones that bring you joy.

The world sounded nice. I wasn't some boy scout that would be bothered by the fact that everyone hated me; I've already got a couple beings in DxD that want to put my head on a spike. I wouldn't lose sleep over it. But…

"What took you so long?" Melissa asked as I crossed the bridge to the portal, everyone already waiting for me there. I looked at the team I got to know for almost half a year, the one's whose had my back through many battles and grinned widely.

"Oh what would I do with an entire world anyway?"

"…What?"

Laughing at the groups questioning looks, I walked forward and entered the portal out of Olympus.

* * *

**Unknown Forest**

I stared up at the single largest tree I've seen, the top reaching far higher than the other trees around it and the width making it hard for ten men holding hands to surround it. The most prominent feature was its overwhelming life force. Having far more life force then a regular tree, I noticed that the source of its Chi wasn't connected to the surrounding soil but was coming from another space all together. It felt strikingly similar to the chopped off tree I saw before in that Elf city so I had a guess to what it was. Vargas was the last one to walk through the portal and joined us as we stood around the tree.

"Where are we? And why are we here?" The Spirit Inheritor asked and Brynhildr answered.

"This is a Fragment of Yggdrasil; it will help in getting into Jotunheim." Asgard didn't have markers in the Land of the Giants, curtsy of the inhabitants who scoured their world and made sure none remained. Thankfully, Yggdrasil's branches spread throughout each Norse world and Maven could follow the branch to Jotunheim. "As for your first question, I believe this is a land mass East of the North Pacific Ocean. It is mainly inhabited by natives that commune with Spirits."

'…Wait…' Are we in North America? I looked around at the trees, getting nothing that could signify this was America before it was colonized but if what Brynhildr said was true, then we were. Flying up in the air above the tree tops, all I could see was a sea of trees and a mountain in the distance. I activated Chi Vision to see if I could find anything but there was nothing but greenery and animals for miles on end. 'I guess it was too much to ask for some Natives to be walking around.' Sighing at the wasted chance, I lowered back down to the others.

Brynhildr placed a hand on the tree and started to pour her Spiritual Energy into the tree. It responded by issuing a low hum and gave out a light blue glow. She quickly stepped aside so Maven could place her hands on the bark and she formed a portal with the blue aura. The Chief Valkyrie turned to Emma.

"Alright, this Fragment will transport you to a section of Jotunheim that we believe your father is in. There will be a Branch Keeper that will meet you and take you to a nearby Jötunn Chief. State the reason why you're in their realm and don't lie…Believe me, they will know." Brynhildr finished and the Dark Elf Princess bowed to her.

"Thank you Lady Brynhildr, for all your help. I-I don't know how I can repay you."

"Just find your father and save your home." Brynhildr said with a soft expression on her face and looked to us. "Keep her safe."

"We promise." Melissa spoke for all of us and I patted the Chief Valkyrie on the shoulder, walking to the portal. Making sure Jade was holding on and grabbing Denki under my arm, Maven gave me to go ahead.

"Let's rock and roll."

"…Wha-" Brynhildr's voice was cut off as I entered the portal. Different from the usual feeling of being carried through the air, I felt my feet planted firmly on the ground but it was moving forward rapidly. Like ridding a treadmill. The lights faded and I saw a massive lake resting where the forest originally was. The lake was perfectly still with a small island in the middle of it. A podium with a basin rested on the island.

"A human? How rare…" I heard a woman's voice and turned to see a beautiful woman with blond hair, animal pelts and tribal tattoos resting on the base of the tree. She had dark brown eyes and scanned me with them, curiosity painting her face. I looked around at the trees and noticed how much larger they were then even the Fragment I came through. "What business do you have in Jotunheim?" The woman asked with a serious face and I rubbed the back of my head.

"Uh, I'm here to look for someone but I'm not alone. Can we wait a second?" Quirking a brow, the woman (who I'm assuming is the Branch Keeper Brynhildr spoke about) leaned back and Melissa was the second one to come through the portal. Telling the Shadow Leopard to wait for the others before speaking, they came one by one with Maven being the last arrival.

"Is that everyone?" Nodding at the Branch Keeper's question, she stared at us for a second before standing up. "Then follow me." We followed the woman through the supernatural forest and I marveled at the scenery. The sky was covered with clouds, pockets of sunlight peeking through to illuminate the trees. Mountains that pierced through the clouds littered the horizon and large gusts of wind blew through the people high grass fields. I felt an aura come closer behind us and I turned around to see…a deer twice my height calmly standing there. I blankly stared at the deer before slowly reaching out to touch it. The deer stepped back however and ran away.

"Wow…"

"Incredible…" Hearing Maven's and Vargas words, I caught up to see a herd of Bison running through the area. The Bison were easily 6 meters tall and when they ran, the ground shook. I was shocked when I saw a male Jötunn chasing after the Bison, using a steel spear to kill one of the Bison. It walked up to its kill and after making sure it was dead, hauled the body over its shoulder. The Jötunn glanced in our direction, nodded in greeting and walked away. We watched the Giant in amazement and I turned to see the Branch Keeper patiently waiting on the side, an amused smile on her face.

"I'm guessing we're not the first ones to react like this." She shook her head.

"Every newcomer to Jotunheim reacts like this. It never gets old." Leaving us another minute to enjoy the sight, she continued her trek. Walking for a couple more minutes, I saw where she was leading us. High stone walls with magic circles on them rested in the distance, two Giants acting as gate keepers standing by the door. The tall doors were open and people were walking in and out of the gate. "Welcome to Gastropnir." The Branch Keeper said before leading us inside.

Under the vigilant watch of the guards, we walked down the main street of the Jötunn city. Unlike everything we've seen so far, the city wasn't enlarged to comical size. Many human sized buildings littered the city with a stores and parks in abundance. Human sized and Giant sized Jötunn walked around, many either selling things or enjoying the day. Brynhildr already gave us a run down on the basics of the Jötunn race. Aside from being one of the most peaceful races in DxD, they were also a race with a very low population (Gods and Dragons barely beat them out as the races with the lowest population). But every Jötunn was a born warrior. Upon reaching adult hood, the average Jötunn had incredibly high magic resistance, immense strength and can change their size at will. The Chief Valkyrie said under no uncertain terms were we to pick a fight with the Giants in their cities. We won't win.

'Thank Ichiei they're so friendly.' Passing by a group of Jötunn who were armed to the teeth, they kindly nodded in greeting and I waved back. The Branch Keeper brought us to a large hall in the middle of the city, the guards opening the doors to let us in and we entered.

"Wait here." The Branch Keeper spoke and disappeared through a door, leaving us in some sort of waiting room. Noticing some seats on the side, I walked over to sit down and the others followed. Getting comfortable as Melissa and Maven sat on either side of me, I leaned back on the couch.

"This is going well."

"How so?" Vargas asked

"We haven't been imprisoned, hunted, or offered up as ritualistic sacrifices. I call this a win." I said with a shrug and everyone nodded in understanding. Emma watched us with a weird look on her face.

"Does…does that happen often?" Maven shook her head in mirth.

"No Emma, he's just being ridiculous." The Dark Elf looked relieved at her words. "I mean, ritual sacrifices are only good for those who worship Evil Spirits and we haven't met people like that yet." I chuckled at the way Emma scrunched at the follow up and hugged the mage.

"I see some one's learning!" Getting a series of eye rolls, I focused back on Emma. "So where do you want to start first?" Asgard's information network figured out that Emma's father came to this city the day he mysteriously disappeared. Where he went or if he's alive is completely unknown. Brynhildr figured we had two options. The first was to ask the leader of this city for help in finding her father but the odds they know anything was low, not to mention they have no reason to help us. The other was to ask around and pick up clues as to why he was here and go from there. Emma thought for a second before giving her answer.

"I want to ask for help from the city ruler first, this is their domain and poking around without permission may back fire on us." Accepting her choice, we talked for a couple minutes before we were summoned into the main hall. Following a Jötunn servant, we came to a long hall that an assortment of tables with food and drinks. At the end of the hall was a massive throne and on that throne, was an equally massive female Jötunn. She had long silver hair that reached past her waist, a voluptuous figure that was hidden by a yellow dress and a pair of beautiful green eyes. She saw us enter and sent us a gorgeous smile that seemed to brighten up the room.

'…I'm really glad we didn't bring Aindrea.' I shuddered thinking on what could have happened if we brought the horn dog Demigod. We walked closer to the Giantess and we bowed when Emma did.

"Welcome travelers to my domain, I am Menglöð. Forgive me for I don't always command Eimgeitir to bring me visitors but my curiosity got the better of me. Tell me, why is a Princess of the Flostenebris Family in my city?" While she didn't sound angry, the caution was still there and Emma began explaining why we were here. By the time she was finished and asked for the Giantess's help, Menglöð shook her head. "Forgive me child but I cannot help you. There are obviously forces outside of Svartalfheim that wish to do your kind harm and they may move their fangs to us if we meddle. I will tell my guards to avoid getting in your way but that is the best I can offer you, I am sorry."

"That is enough, thank you." The Dark Elf bowed low once more and we made to stand up but the Giantess spoke up.

"Are you not going to say hello to me?" Menglöð said with a quirked brow and stared right in my direction. I looked behind me to check if anyone was there but no one was.

"Have we met? Because if we did then I want to know how I forgot a ten meter tall Giant queen." Menglöð didn't respond and I quickly figured out that she wasn't staring at me. She was staring at my space ring. Tyrfing's voice rang out.

_'Why hello Menglöð, it has been quite some time. I see you're still as stunning as ever.'_ The Demon Sword spoke with a nervous tone and the Giantess smiled.

"Charmer. I'm glad to see the years have not dulled that aspect." I raised my ring to my mouth as they talked.

"How do you know her?" Whispering my question, I could feel Tyrfing's aura fidget.

_'Oh that's a long and very complicated story; we don't have the time-'_

"He was once used to kill my husband."

"…"

'…'

"…Well it's been wonderful talking to you, we'll see ourselves out." Choosing to cut this reunion short, we slowly left under the amused looks of the two Jötunn. By the time we got outside I could feel the relief coming off the Demon Sword in waves.

_'Damn she's still as terrifying as ever. Let's never do that again.'_ Tyrfing said and I furrowed my brows.

"Will she be a problem?"

_'Nah, she takes her job very seriously and won't cause trouble for you to get back at me…I think.'_ That wasn't comforting. _'Can we get out here please?'_

_'Oh is the power stick scared of the big, bad Giantess?'_ Dáinsleif, not letting a moment to mock Tyrfing go by, spoke and Tyrfing seethed.

_'I do not want to hear shit from a sword that's terrified of Gnomes!'_

_'They're a real threat! They come when you least expect it and take everything you hold dear! The world will end by their hands I tell you! Their small…grubby little hands…urghh.'_

Leaving the traumatized Demon Swords alone, we chose to get serious and plan our first step. There were only so many places a Dark Elf can go through when coming to the Land of the Giants. While Eimgeitir said she didn't see Emma's father, there was bound to be someone who saw the Elf King. We split up and started asking the guards who watched the gates if they saw a Dark Elf at any point in the past month. With the majority of the citizens being Jötunns, a Dark Elf was bound to turn some heads. Our hunch was correct because after an hour of asking around, we came across a guard whose seen a Dark Elf walking around. There was just one problem.

"Are you positive that's how he looks?" Emma asked the Jötunn guard who was sitting down and he nodded.

"Yeah, he usually comes through the south gate in the evening after a day of hunting. Short, wrinkly grey skin and white hair. You can't miss him." Possibly due to Menglöð's influence or maybe he's just naturally talkative, the Jötunn told us everything he knew about the resident Dark Elf. Thanking the guard for his help, we regrouped.

"Is rapidly aging in another realm common for Dark Elves?" I asked but Emma ignored it, choosing to fall into deep thought.

"Is it possible that he's just a lone Elf that lives in Jotunheim?" Melissa hypothesized.

"It could be, there's no guarantee that he's related to Emma father."

"Why don't we go ask him?" Everyone turned to Vargas and he shrugged. "Just walk up to him and ask if he knows anything, we have two Chi users that can make sure if he's lying or not." Not seeing a problem with the plan, the Elf Princess agreed and we made our way to the southern section of the city. We came to a large market place, many Jötunns were walking around and mingling. "So where do we start?"

"Let's just look around and ask any vendors if they've seen a Dark Elf around today." We entered the crowd and moved between stands, keeping a lookout for any grey skinned, pointy eared beings. I browsed the stands as I asked for information and the Land of the Giants sure had some interesting things for sale. Magical armor that can changes sizes with the user, jugs of alcohol that never seemed to go empty as long as you poured Mana into it and belts from supernatural creatures. Passing another vendor that was selling some sort Troll hide, I stopped when I felt an aura that similar to Emmas nearby. Peeking around the corner, I saw the old Dark Elf the guard described.

"I got him, should I go up to him?" Speaking into my communication ring, I waited for confirmation.

"Not yet, wait for us to get nearby before speaking to him. Just tail him for now."

"Roger." I stealthily followed after the Dark Elf as he walked down the street. Using the crowd as cover, the Dark Elf calmly went from stand to stand. I noticed that for his nonchalance, he did look around quite a bit every so often and avoided bumping into anyone if he could help it. After buying a large chunk of meat from a female Jötunn, the Elf started to make his way to the gate.

"Are you still on him? We're almost there."

"Yeah I'm still on him. He's going through the south gate now, looks like he has plans outside the city."

"Follow him." Already planning on doing that, I passed the Jötunn who gave me a long look and tailed the Dark Elf into the forest. He picked up the pace the moment he was in the woods. A magic circle appeared under his feet and he flew through the trees, never going above the tree tops. I had to activate Touki to keep up with the new speed and it was only after following him for a couple miles that I realized something was wrong. My instincts were rewarded when I stepped on the ground and a magic circle appeared under me. I Chi Burst out the way in time for multiple large earth spikes to pop out where I was standing. It wasn't over however because black strings slashed in my direction and I dodged them. Everything the strings touched blackened and corroded into mush. I used Chi Vision to find the Dark Elf and found him standing behind a boulder, manually controlling the strings trough his magic circle.

Dodging a couple more strings, I sensed the location of his magic circles and sent out a dozen Chi Swords to destroy them. Feeling panic from his circles being wrecked, I reached the boulder he was hiding behind and split it in two with my bare hands. I wryly smiled when his face became white at the scene.

"We only came here to talk but you're not going to believe that are yo-" I caught the dagger that was aimed to pierced through my eye and watched the Dark Elf try to fly away. "Yeah, I figured not." Before he could get far, he was shot with a bolt of lightning. I flinched when he fell to the ground and spasmed uncontrollably for a second before lying still. I stared down at Denki who was wagging his tail, lightning still coming off of him from that last attack. "...Good boy."

Petting the lightning dog (and getting his tail to wag faster), I went to tie up the Dark Elf. The others arrived and did a double take at the tied up, scorched Dark Elf.

"He threw the first punch." Shrugging at the fact, they took my word for it and we roused the Dark Elf. He woke up with a groan and paled when he saw us.

"W-Wait! Please don't kill me! I did everything you asked, I'll never return to Svartalfheim I swear! No one will ever know, please!" There was an awkward silence as the Dark Elf bawled his eyes out, begging us to forgive him for whatever the hell he did.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked but the Dark Elf took it the wrong way and started to nod.

"Yes, yes nothing happened! There's nothing to talk about so please...please." He started to cry again, his tears staining the dirt under him.

"This is pathetic." Vargas frowned, giving the Dark Elf a look of disdain. Emma crouched down to the Elf's level.

"Please, calm down. No one is going to hurt you...anymore." I rubbed my nose at that remark and she placed a hand on his shoulder. "My name is Emma Flostenebris and I came to-"

"No!" Her words at the opposite she was expecting and the Elf stumbled back in fear. "H-How did you find me!? I-I had no choice! He made me!"

"Who made you?" Maven asked with furrowed brows and like a broken faucet, the Elf poured out every dirty secret he had to save himself. By the time he finished, we were all stunned in place. I peeked over to Emma who was currently trembling.

"You're lying..." The Elf Princess could barely say that through gritted teeth and he shook her head desperately.

"I'm not! It's all true a-and I can prove it! I know where your father is!" The offer made Emma go breathless. We stood silent in the woods, the Elf Princess's head was down and we looked at each other. I sighed.

"Alright, whose calling Adrian?"

* * *

**Svartalfheim, Hersíða**

Deep within the realm of the Dark Elves and Dwarves, there laid a wide city. Countless number of Dark Elves roamed city streets, merchants from different sections of the realm coming through and soldiers kept the peace. The laughter of children and the songs of bards rang out, making the city appeared bustling. Even in war time, officials tried to keep the people's morale high and avoid panic. That didn't mean they weren't taking precautions in the event the war reached here. A great number of magical weapons and artifacts were brought to the city walls, ready to give the people enough time to retreat if the situation called for an evacuation. Up atop the inner castle walls, a handsome male could be seen watching the city. Adrian had many ideas to what a Dark Elf city looked like after being to one but this what different from what he expected. In the Light Elf city, it seemed like nature and steel perfectly blended together for every building and structure. There was a certain beauty to it but here...

'It's just like a human city.' Adrian thought that there would be some sort of magical aspect to the city but it was exactly like a major city on Earth like London or Constantinople (besides the high outer walls). Him, Aindrea and Samantha arrived in Svartalfheim with Emma's servant around an hour ago. They were given a tour of the castle and even had a run in with both of Emma's siblings. Her sister, Edith, was cordial enough with the team. She didn't try to use her authority on them and welcomed them to the realm, putting it in a subtle way that this was "her" castle.

Her brother, Eric, wasn't as kind. He blatantly threatened them to stay of his way and not to intrude on the inner workings of royalty. Adrian figured if it wasn't for Elijah being in the room, he probably would have been far worse.

'He sure kept his cool, I'm impressed.' Knowing the Demigods usual temper (and from the murder in his eyes), Aindrea wasn't pleased with the Elf's attitude. Personally, Adrian himself wasn't bothered by the Elf's attitude. Fools like that barely got far and would eventually met someone that will put him in his place, whether that was before or after their father came back didn't matter to him. It was the sister that bothered him. Emma kept her actions a secret as best as she could but Edith's reaction worried the Emissary. While Eric was slightly shocked to met an unknown group, Edith didn't look surprised. Like she was expecting them to come.

'She knew about Emma's mission.' Adrian thought with a frown. A pair of footsteps approached the Emissary and a tall Dark Elf came into view of Adrian. The Dark Elf was exceptionally handsome, even among other Dark Elves. He had long black hair, red eyes and was wearing steel armor. This was the General of the Flostenebris Royal Family, Deublyg. He met the team when they entered the city and welcomed their help. He was a highly respected man who was holding the line against Dökkálfar Faction as best as he could.

"Quite a few isn't it?" Deublyg said, staring out at the city in wonder. "Over a thousand years ago, the Ancestor of the Flostenebris House made his stand against the Aesir Gods and built a magnificent city that lasted till today."

"It's beautiful."

"It's perfect." Deublyg had a feverish look in his eyes, as if nothing else could match the sight. "It shows the strength of the Dark Elves. That no amount of force, be it man or god, could move this city. Many of fallen to protect this place and if I were to be added to that pile so it can continue then...I could only hope for such an end."

"..." Adrian said nothing to the General's claims. Seeing how the Emissary chose to stay silent, the General gave a polite bow before leaving the wall. Adrian didn't turn around and sighed when he didn't hear his footsteps anymore. He respected the General's drive. It was passionate, almost fanatical but he knew where to draw the line. But the thing about passion is...it can spiral out of control and make you do things that you think is for the greater good. Adrian closed his eyes as he thought back to the conversation he had before coming to the wall. Pierce had contacted them and told them what the Dark Elf they found said. Apparently, Emma's father was trapped in Jotunheim and it was a traitor who placed him there. The reason it was so hard to believe was because the traitor...was a certain, zealous General that was keeping this kingdom from falling into Talien's hands. Staring out into the city one last time, Adrian snorted. "Just like humans..."

Then the Emissary left the wall that overlooked the "glorious" Elf Capital.

* * *

And done. Magic, supernatural powers and long life spans will never change one true fact...Politics are a bitch. I hope you enjoyed!


	38. Chapter 37

**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**

* * *

**Bridd…and everyone else apparently: **There is a valid reason why I made it that Athena is no longer a Virgin Goddess and it's because Virgin Goddess's, both in concept and practice, make zero fucking sense! You're going sit down and tell me that a being with Godly powers, who has lived for over a thousand years, is so attractive that it's almost criminal and has an awesome personality to boot…has never attempted love? Really? Something countless people with life spans that are only a percentage to what Gods have attempt all their life? Bull. Shit. I added the part where Zeus was once a tyrant to give her a reason she didn't try love in her younger years but with how chill Zeus is in Canon, it makes no sense for him to still enforce that rule. Not to even mention the fact that her family practically invented hedonism and debauchery. Sure, she hasn't been on great sexual escapades like Zeus or Aphrodite but she has had a few lovers. If that drives you away then thanks for reading.

**gwong981**: I feel Grayfia would fit in quite well. She could instill a sense of order and professionalism the group needs (or Pierce needs at least) but still get drawn into the fun. I have big plans for her when it comes to the Supernatural Mercenary Organization, I'll tell you that.

* * *

**Chapter 37: A Garden in the Snow **

Disclaimer: Until the day comes when Ichiei himself gifts me his prized work on a silver platter, I will unfortunately have to stick with saying that I do not own Highschool DxD. God damn it. The OCs are indeed mine (so stop leering).

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – _'Neat'_

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – _**"Jumon"**_

* * *

**Jotunheim, Veiœr**

A couple miles south of Menglöð's city laid a small fishing village. Run by a Lesser Giant by order of the Jötunn Chief, the village supplied the majority of fish that came in and out of Gastropnir. Giant oak ships that could house dozens of ordinary men were used as fishing boats by Jötunn to catch their equally massive prey. I leaned on the window frame of the inn we were staying at, watching a pair of father and son Giants heave a fishing net from the water. Hundreds of abnormally large carp and bass squirmed in the net. Thinking if all animals and fish were that size on Earth, world hungry probably wouldn't be a think.

'Though that would probably make hunting said animals much harder.' I thought, imagining a normal human trying to hunt a deer or boar two times his size and knew it wouldn't be pretty. 'Then there's human greed.' Lots of people tended to desire more than they reasonably need, many times achieving it at the suffering of others. The fact that the most prominent race in DxD makes that their entire business plan said enough. I looked back into the room of the inn; Vargas and Emma were calmly sitting on a couch across of the Dark Elf we found earlier today. Eventually finding out his name was Vincent (though the terrified murmurs didn't help) he led us to the location where Emma's father was supposedly was. While the Elf Princess wasn't fully trusting of the Dark Elf, if her subtle but very real glare was any indicator, she did choose to wait for evidence before passing any judgment.

"We're back." Melissa and Maven walked through the door, just coming back from their task. Emma took a momentary break from wanting Vincent to spontaneously combust into flames and turned to the duo.

"What did you find?"

"His claims checked out. While no one saw a large group of Dark Elves enter the mountain, Ymir's Breath started the day your father disappeared. Four years earlier than expected." Melissa said with a heavy tone and Emma's face fell. Vincent perked up.

"I-I told you I wasn't-"

"Quiet." Emma commanded and he shut right up, watching the Elf Princess pace. No one spoke as she continued doing this for another minute before ultimately sighing and sitting back down, looking defeated. "I-I don't understand. Why would he do this?" We didn't have an answer to that and I stepped forward.

"Did Elijah get back to you on his end?"

"He did and they aren't allowing anyone into Deublyg's castle…No one's heard from his clan." The mood of the room got heavy at Emma's words. I looked at the other members of the team before staring out the window again. Past the wide river that housed a number of Jötunn fishing, I gazed upon a mountain range. Stretching into the distance, the upper half of the mountain range was covered by a large blizzard. The blizzard, unlike a regular one that spreads out overtime, this one wrapped around the range like a dome. This was a naturally occurring event that happened every ten years in Jotunheim, Ymir's Breath.

The final resting place of the First Jötunn, Ymir did battle there and his body was left on the peak of the tallest mountain. The day he died, maybe as last 'fuck you' to his murderers, a blizzard erupted from his body and wrapped the mountain in an isolating space. The blizzard lasted for months and ended up killing Odin's brothers, Vili and Vé. The young God King of the Norse barely got away with his life. The Jötunn at the time built a grand grave for their progenitor and regularly brought offerings until one day, another blizzard erupted from the grave. While not matching in the sheer ferocity or power the one that trapped the brothers, it still nearly froze many Jötunns that came to offer tributes and locked the space of the mountain for a whole week.

This quickly became a trend. Every ten years, a blizzard would cover the mountain and some of the Jötunn race took this as a trial from the deceased Primordial. Young Jötunns would take a trip into the mountain whenever the blizzard came forth and would attempt to survive the ordeal. They coined the event Ymir's Breath. For thousands of years, the blizzard would come like clockwork and it never missed the time frame. It was always every ten years, no year more no year less. Until now that is when it came four years earlier.

The exact day Emma's father disappeared.

'…I wonder if there's an anime world where a coincidence is just that, a coincidence…none are coming to mind.' Wracking my brain for an anime that didn't use every little out of place event to further the plot (and failing miserably) the others talked about the situation at hand.

"Deublyg sure is something else, using his own family to lead his king into a trap is horrible and we've met some messed up people." Vargas said a scowl on his face. "Though I figured he'd try to be more subtle about their disappearance then just denying people entry."

"Actually, it makes perfect sense." Maven spoke and everyone turned to look at her, puzzled. "Think about it, as the General of the Flostenebris Family, he's the first line of defense against the Dökkálfar Faction. As such an important figure, what's the one thing he has to watch out for the most?"

"Assassins." Emma said realization in her eyes and the mage nodded.

"He could easily bar entry to his home and say it's so assassins can't use his family against him. Not to mention in the middle of this war, no one's going to go snooping in the General's personal business. No one has the time."

"Act likes something's wrong and people usually use their common sense to put the picture together, never coming close to the truth. Impressive, no offence." Vargas gave an apologetic smile to Emma and she gave a wry smile back.

"None taken…When Deublyg increased the security around his clan's domain around the time my father disappeared, I thought it was because he afraid for his family. I-I never thought-I mean, I spoke with his daughter days before it happened and he used them as bait. She worshiped him and he just…left them up there." Emma's voice sounded haunted, not coming to grips that the man her father respected above all others did this. "I-I don't know what to do." I frowned when the Elf Princess's aura started to fluctuate, showing her distress and I walked up to her. Kneeling down, I tilted my head.

"Emma, look at me." She did as I asked, albeit with great effort, and I took a deep breath. "I'll be honest Emma; I can't promise your father is alive. I can't promise we can stop your siblings from ruining your family or Talien gaining your kingdom. I just can't."

"…This is a really terrible cheering up speech." Melissa whispered to the others, getting a round of nods (even from Vincent). Sending a glare at them before returning to Emma, who looked worse than ever, I made a serious face.

"But we'll try. We'll try to free your father, try to save your kingdom and kick Talien out of Svartalfheim. Until every last option is used up, you won't need to do this alone. You have my word." I placed my hand on her shoulder. "And if that means going into a supernatural blizzard that makes Dimension Lost look like a malfunctioning fog machine then…I really need to watch who I give my word to."

The room got quiet after I finished, Emma blankly staring at me. She moved her gaze up at the others. Vargas gave a firm nod, Melissa twirled her daggers with a cheeky grin and Maven simply tipped her witch hat towards the Dark Elf. She said nothing as she looked back at me.

"…Thank you…" She bowed her head, the emotion in her voice leaking out. "Thank you so much, I…I don't how I can repay you."

"Let's work out the payment method after we've finished with Talien. Fair warning though, I'm not cheap." I smiled and stood up, Emma rubbing her eyes before gaining a firm look.

"I'll do everything in my power as a royal member to grant your wish, I promise."

"Good. Now, does anyone have a plan on how to get her father off that mountain without actually entering it?" I asked but sighed when everyone shook their heads.

"Like the legends said, space magic trying to go in or out doesn't work. Melissa also tried to enter the mountain through the Shadow Zone and failed." Maven said. "Menglöð may have some ideas on what could have caused it to come earlier but I doubt it."

"Go ask anyway, better safe than sorry." I said and they nodded, Melissa bringing Maven into her shadow. I turned towards the others. "We should ask the surrounding Giants if they have information on the mountain before going up." They may also know if any Jötunn have made a trip into Ymir's Breath. Vargas grabbed Vincent, who despite the obvious strength disparity, struggled and walked out the inn room.

"Lady Brynhildr spoke of you." I made to followed but stop at Emma's words. I looked back to see the Dark Elf observe me like I was a puzzle to figure out.

"What did she say?" Crossing my arms, I waited patiently for her answer. She didn't disappoint.

"She said that for the hundreds of humans that she's met, the hundreds of souls she's had to filter through and send to the Asgard soul system…you are by far the strangest, eccentric man she has ever met. Many things you do and say have no rhyme or reason. If there weren't the moments of common sense and morality you give off, she would honestly think you're mad." I gave an understanding nod at every word, seeing her point. I wasn't offended. Brynhildr hasn't spent all that much time with me, the only time we worked together was three months ago and it wasn't easy. From a stranger's point of view, I was crazy. Bipolar. _Weird_ (the fact I enjoyed it half the time didn't help). I could understand the Chief Valkyrie's opinion.

"So she doesn't trust me?" Emma shook her head.

"She does. She just needed to figure out the method to your madness."

"Oh?" I said with an amused smile. "And what is that method?" Emma made the straightness face I've ever seen on a person.

"Complete and utter dumb luck." My smile grew.

"She told you to tell me this didn't she?"

"…Is she wrong?" Emma asked and I turned around, walking out the door.

Not even a little.

* * *

**Highway up the Mountain**

I softly landed on a hard, flat portion of the rock. The team landed next to me as I observed the wall of snow and wind that blocked our path (Vincent was dropped to the ground on landing). Menglöð had no idea what could have caused the early emergence of Ymir's Breath but she has sent some of her Jötunn to investigate. They learned that the blizzard wasn't as cold as the usual ones, allowing even adolescent Jötunn to survive a trip through the blizzard. They also figured out that many of the indigenous animals and monsters that lived on the mountain have become incredibly aggressive. While they would usually go into caves to wait out the hazard, they were now prowling around and trying to kill anything in sight. The Giantess thought it was because they didn't expect Ymir's Breath to arrive four years early and didn't get the chance to stock pile food but I had another guess.

'Deublyg sure is thorough.' Emma's father wasn't a fighter from how she described him. A decent father, a better leader but he was at a High Class Devil's level at best. Alone in the middle of Jotunheim with a bunch of monsters out for blood in a supernatural blizzard? 'I think I finally found someone whose luck is shitter than mine.' I wryly smiled as Melissa came closer to the snow and reached out with her hand to immediately it pull back.

"Damn, that's cold!" The Shadow Leopard's hand was covered in a thin layer of frost. She closed and opened to fist as she grimaced at the arctic barrier. "This is tame compared to normal?"

"Well, they are called Frost Giants. I'd find it weird if they didn't have a higher resistance to the cold then regular supernatural beings." Vargas commented and furrowed his brows. "Remind me again why this is a good idea?"

"Never said it was, it's just our best lead. Our only lead really." I explained as I took out a rope and walked to a nearby boulder. "All evidence points to Emma's father being on this mountain and whatever caused this blizzard isn't natural…as natural as a massive storm of snow and wind coming from a grave is." I wrapped the robe around the boulder and got to work making a tight knot.

"So you believe it's artificial? Or forced?" Melissa asked, not even a little curious to my current actions and I nodded.

"If we can find the source of why it's happening, we can most probably stop the blizzard." Whatever Deublyg did up there must have messed with the normal order of things and that's why this Ymir's Breath was so different like the increased duration or weaker frost. It stood to reason that fixing said problem will well…fix the problem.

"And what happens if we can't find the reason or worse, if Emma's father is…" Vargas lowered his voice for the last part, peeking over to the Dark Elf princess who was gazing at the blizzard in wonder.

"Then we use the Talisman I got from the Tournament to transport ourselves to Shinto Heaven." I said as I made another loop.

"And if that doesn't work?" Maven asked

"Then write on my tombstone that I died of frostbite and royal stupidity! Look, whatever spatial lock this place has, I doubt it could stop a Talisman that has a good amount of a Chief God's divine power. But let's avoid using that if we can okay?" The main reason Odin's brothers died on the mountain was because they used up a large portion of their power killing Ymir, a Primordial Jötunn who was pretty much Chief God Class and had to deal with a supernatural blizzard right after. Odin survived by the virtue of his instincts and genius magic. This Ymir's Breath we were facing was nowhere close to being that strong. "Anymore questions?" I looked around and stopped at Vincent weakly raising his hand.

"U-Um, why am I still here?"

"Oh, well-"

"Because you're a worthless Dark Elf who gave his family up to betray his king."

"…What she said." I said as I pointed to a glaring Emma. "That and you were the one to bring your family here; you're going to led us to where they are."

"I-" Vincent looked indignant.

"You get no say in this whatsoever, just to let you know." Not that it mattered. Fastening the rope around my waist, I heard Vargas' skeptical voice.

"You don't actually expect that to work do you?"

"Not really, I just want to try it for science." Picking up Jade (who was playing in the snow), I took out Dáinsleif and told everyone to huddle together. Activating Touki, I expanded it to cover the entire group and connected with Jade's powers. While it didn't give the same amount of protection and strength boost as a regular Touki can, it will protect us from the biting cold of Ymir's Breath. I then used Dáinsleif to cast a magic circle around us to further that protection.

Making sure we had everything we need one last time, we marched into the blizzard.

* * *

**Svartalfheim**

Adrian and Aindrea stood on a wall hundred of meters tall, overlooking a canyon that split the northern and southern sections of the realm. Co-built by the Elf kings of the Svartálfar Faction, this wall had a countless number of protection spells to stop the Dökkálfar Faction's advance (Samantha was in the medical center of the wall). Of course there were other entry points Talien's army could hit to enter but they were either too difficult to transverse, weren't key points to the Svartálfar Faction or weren't worth the effort to take over. This wall protected the main path into Northern Svartalfheim and it didn't have country sized barriers to stop flying or teleporting. This was something Emma's father was trying to convince the other kings to help create but they were wary that others would use it for their own personal gain during the war.

"This war would be over much faster if they didn't pull back their soldiers." A Dark Elf in silver army known as Curtis grumbled, having been assigned to keep the Demigod and Emissary alerted on the situation. "Can't they understand if this wall falls then that fake king will have a direct route to all their kingdoms? It's stupid."

"It's not like they didn't have a good reason." Adrian said, leaning on the edge of the wall and the Dark Elf scuffed.

"She survived in the end, didn't she?" Both teammates narrowed their eyes at that. Getting called over by a Dark Elf, they watched Curtis leave before turning to look at each other.

"I guess we know whose camp he's in." Aindrea snorted.

"He had me at fake king."

Adrian was personally flabbergasted by the siblings fighting, more so on how fast it escalated. Their squabble had split the subjects of the Flostenebris House right down the middle, one who followed the First Prince and the ones who adored the First Princess. The Prince's followers had the common characteristics of elitists, thinking the princess to be unfit for ruling and that other Elf Kings were nothing but fakes (even the ones in the Svartálfar Faction). The tension became even worse when one day, when the Princess came to the frontlines to oversee the situation; she was nearly killed by members of the Prince's faction. Instead, over a hundred Dark Elves were injured with dozens ending up dead. Many were soldiers of the other Elf kings and they pulled them back when they couldn't trust their own side not to shoot them in the back.

All things considered, they had their work cut out for them.

"Hey Adrian." The Emissary lifted his head to look at Aindrea and the Demigod pointed out into the canyon. "Do you see that?" Adrian examined the view and saw what he meant. They were far but he could clearly see groups of Dark Elves transverse the canyon with large metal contraptions behind them. The contraptions were shaped like canons but had multiples hand sized openings on the side (Adrian had to use magic to see that far). The movements of the unknown Elves were noticed by the soldiers on the wall and they moved closer to the edge to see what was going on. The Dark Elves moving the canons stopped to stare up at the wall and lifted their hands up.

Then hundreds of magic circles appeared across the canyon. A countless number of fireballs, ice spikes, lightning bolts and/or person sized boulders flew at the wall. Both Adrian and Aindrea took out their weapons, ready to negate some of the attacks from reaching the wall but it was unnecessary. The rain of magic was stopped short by an invisible wall, ripples going outward from the impact. As expected from a barrier created from the joint effort of multiple kingdoms, the barrier distorted greatly but didn't crack once from the barrage and went back to normal after a minute (even the wall barely shook). Cheers came from the soldiers on the wall, some cursing and spitting at the Elves in the canyon. The Emissary frowned at the disinterested looks the Elves in the canyon had. They weren't done.

"What the hell is that?" Looking over, Adrian saw a Dark Elf staring up into the sky and followed his gaze. Hidden way up in the clouds, a single Dark Elf floated in the air. It was a tall beautiful woman with short black hair, grey skin and black armor. A wide smile on her face, she waved her hand and a large portal appeared behind her. A warship the size of a five story building came flying out of it. Reminiscent of a Norse battle ship with a dragon head on the ram and sails, the rest of the boat looked like it was made from steel. The Dark Elf with black armor landed on the ram and placed one hand on it. Her aura was sucked into the dragon head and before anyone can react, a beam of light came out its mouth. The shaking was much more profound this time when it impacted.

"Those damn Dwarves made them a Skíðblaðnir!?" A cry amongst the soldiers sent them scrambling and Adrian's eyes widened when he saw the large hole left in the barrier. The hole slowly started to close but a bunch of chains hooked onto its edges, preventing it from mending itself. The Skíðblaðnir was making it ways over.

"What are you idiots doing?! Get to your stations!" A booming voice rang across the wall and Deublyg arrived with a batch of soldier. "Birger, get your men and have them focus fire on the breach, don't let them enter without a fight."

"Yes sir!" A Dark Elf with magician robes called a bunch of soldiers and started to separate them into groups to attack the ship. The General turned to a burly Dark Elf in red armor.

"Ulf, bring a number of soldiers and take out those men in the canyons. I need those anchors destroyed." The chains and hooks that stopped the barrier from closing came from the canons shaped contraptions. Ulf gave a wolfish grin before running off. Knowing that he understood, Deublyg's voice was projected next to Aindrea and Adrian.

"I hope you both can protect this wall from any enemies that make it through."

"We'll stop any intruders." Adrian promised and Deublyg gratefully nodded before flying to face the Dark Elf woman on the ship. While a part of Adrian thought that listening to a traitor's orders wasn't the best idea, there was no question that they needed to prevent this wall from falling. An explosion appeared in the air, the General and the woman sending magic spell after magic spell towards one another. They couldn't watch the fight for too long because the Skíðblaðnir reached the breach and was already halfway through.

"_**Tjald til Daga!" **_Birger chanted and a large magic circle appeared in front of the ship's path, a number of soldiers adding their magic circles to his. A barrier around the Skíðblaðnir collided with the spell and it eroded away, leaving the flying ship vulnerable to dozens of magic spells that destroyed its sides. While it successfully stopped the ship's advance, enemy soldiers started to pile out of the ship.

"For the Glory of Dökká!" A Dark Elf in a black body suit yelled, holding up a glowing axe that was similar to Pierce's Demon Swords. Leaping into a group of soldiers, he maneuvered around the battlefield with grace that surpassed the average Dark Elf (which was high on its own). Every time his axe was swung, it left a streak of flames and multiple soldiers fell before he ultimately died due to being outnumbered. Hundreds of soldiers filed into the wall and they all had the same equipment the first soldier had.

"_**Praecipe **__**V**__**igilis **__**E**__**xceptus est **__**S**__**criptor**__**!" **_Aindrea chanted and a concussive blast came from the tip of his spear, sending a dozen Dark Elves flying. Not letting them gather their thoughts, the Demigod summoned his spectral spears and sent them across the wall. Piercing through chests, stomachs or heads, many enemy soldiers died under his attack. The sudden attacks made the enemies slightly falter, allowing the soldiers to push back the intruders. Groups of hostile Dark Elves flew to face Aindrea but were scattered by a fire spell from Birger. Aindrea stared at his leader.

"Just keep a cool head." Adrian rolled his eyes at the happy look the battle hungry Demigod gained. As Aindrea barreled into the chaotic battle and widely thrust with his spear, Adrian heard bangs impact the lower wall. Peeking over the edge, he saw the lower half being scaled by tall creatures with thick plated armor and sharp claws. "…I'm going to have to deal with that aren't I?" The continuous screams of men too busy fighting and dying answered the Emissary.

Giving a quiet sigh, a sunlight aura wrapped around Adrian and he leaped off the wall.

* * *

**Same Time, Jotunheim**

"How long is that rope?" Vargas asked in slight shock which was warranted since we treaded through a little over a mile of snow.

"It's a rope with an infinite length. I got it at the Yokai Festival."

"…Why would you buy an infinite rope?"

"Why not?" I shrugged and continued to release some of the line, my response leaving the Spirit Inheritor speechless. "Hey, does any of this look familiar to you?"

"N-No. It's difficult to tell over all the s-snow." Vincent stuttered out, rubbing his arms in a vain attempt to warm himself up. All around us was shining blankets of white snow, dense wind obscuring our vision and making the temperature colder. The supernatural blizzard didn't just lock the space and made the conditions one of the worse that could appear on Earth, it also dampened the senses. I could barely see a couples meters in front of us, our hearing would be flooded by the falling snow if it wasn't for the sound barrier Maven placed around us and even my Chi Vision was halved to its original range.

"Let's pick up the pace; we'll stop at a high peak to get a better view of things." We followed Maven's suggestion and I picked up the mage, Melissa piggy backing Emma. Vargas carried Vincent under his arm like he was luggage. We sprinted across the snow, leaving human sized paths (my infinite rope was being released at a rapid pace).

"I should have summoned Bell before entering." Vargas complained, lamenting on not bringing his White Stag.

"I'll remind you the next we enter a freak blizzard made from the corpse of a Primordial Giant."

"…You would find a way to make this a regular thing." He deadpanned

"Hey, I don't go looking for this crap, it finds me!" I exclaimed before sighing. "But tis is my life, it's truly a curse." Maven made a weird face at that.

"You sure seem to have lots of fun with that curse."

"Eh, sue me. I'm a glass quarter full kind of guy."

"…Don't you mean half full?"

"I'll let you know if it ever reaches halfway." We traveled another mile in snow before reaching a towering wall of rock. Placing Maven on back, I started to scale the cliff with the others right behind me. The reason we didn't fly was because flying too high in the storm will distort your sense of direction and before you know it, you're flying head first into the ground.

I had the bruises to prove that fact true. Slowly climbing so I don't fall to a non-fatal but still painful drop, I pulled the others up when we reached the top. There wasn't much of a difference compared to down on the ground besides the slight added sunlight from being higher elevated. That didn't mean we could exit if we somehow reached the top of the blizzard, it just didn't stop the sun's rays from coming in. Contrary to moving for so long we didn't get far, the mountain range was massive (like all things in Jotunheim) and we only reached the first peak.

'So that's where Ymir died.' I said and stared at a towering mountain in the distance. While narrower then Mount Olympus, it pierced through the clouds all the same. The mountain sat in the middle of a bunch of other mountains in the range, like a king among his servants. The blizzard also seemed to condense tightly around it which made sense since Ymir's Grave was at the top. "How about now, can you recognize anything?" I turned from the view and asked Vincent. The jittery Dark Elf took a hesitant step forward and scanned around. After a minute of searching, he lifted a finger towards a mountain in the distance.

"It's hard to tell because of the snow b-but I think that's the mountain he made me…" He slowed down at the end of his words. My attention was on his Chi when he was speaking and I nodded to the others. He was telling the truth. Getting ready to climb down and continue our trek, I stopped.

"What is it?" Maven asked, still on my back and I stared out into the snow.

"Something's out there." Melissa stared in the same direction and everyone else waited with cautious faces.

"Do you think it's my father? Or anyone else from Deublyg's clan?"

"No, it doesn't feel like a Dark Elf." It felt like a deer but mixed with the aura of a wolf. It also had malice coming off it in waves. I instantly knew it wasn't an animal. No animal radiates malice or hate, that's only something you feel from humans or supernatural beings. "Let's go." Whatever it was, it didn't feel strong but I wouldn't want to fight it in this blizzard.

We quickly got a move on after that. The next 3 hours were spent running over frozen lakes, tipped over trees and climbing the occasional mountain. The aura from before was long gone but I still felt the unsettling feeling of being watched.

"Hey look, there's a cave over there. How about we take a break for now?" Melissa pointed out a cave and almost everyone agreed immediately. Besides the Shadow Leopard and me, everyone else was dead on their feet. I was also feeling sluggish from constantly keeping up a team wide Touki (though it helped we weren't fighting) and Jade was tired from supplying her powers. Entering the cave first, I had Denki light up the darkness with his lightning and saw nothing inside. It wasn't very deep and only went a couple dozen meters. Maven placed a barrier around the cave to stop intruders and warm it up.

"Damn my feet are killing me." Vargas flopped on ground, rubbing his sore and frozen feet. "I'm starting to wish we brought Samantha with us."

"So she could heal you with her magic or…"heal" you with her "magic"?" Melissa said, looking proud of her word play.

"Melissa…that was terrible. Never do it again." Maven wasn't impressed.

"O-Oh shut up! I'd like to see you do better!"

"I bet you would." Not rising to the bait, the mage took out a blanket from her space ring and placed it down. She ignored the blushing Yokai and started to get comfortable. "Hey Pierce, you alright?"

"Hm? Oh yeah, I'm good. I'll take the first watch." I stood staring outside the wave entrance, watching the blanket of snow.

"Are you sure? I've expended less Chi then you; I should be the one watching." Melissa said, worried but I smiled and gave her a quick kiss.

"I'm fine there's no need to worry. I'll switch out with you in a couple of hours so go rest."

While her worried face didn't go away, Melissa relented and went to lie on Maven's blanket, Emma also coming to join them. Vargas leaned against a smooth boulder, placing the Sword of Damocles by his side. I sat on the ground, lightly stroking a sleeping Jade on my lap and Denki was crouched by my right. I observed the cleanly cut mark on my infinite rope. Around the time I felt that aura, my rope went slack and I pulled it in to see my rope in this state. Something intentionally cut it.

'I probably should have said something but what would that accomplish?' Nothing really. We know something is out there and I didn't expect the rope to work, it was more wishful thinking on my part. Keeping Chi Vision active while the others rested, I saw Vincent crouching in the corner. "So why did you do it?"

"H-Huh?" The Dark Elf looked up in confusion.

"Why did you trick your family into coming here? Did Deublyg buy you off? Did he promise you something and chose not pay up?" Vincent stayed quiet and I smirked. "Or are you just a coward who crumbled at the threat of death?"

"Fuck you."

"So you can bark. At least you got that going for you." I sneered at the Dark Elf and he went back to watching the wall. I didn't dislike the Dark Elf for being a coward, it wasn't an admirable trait but it wasn't enough to earn my disgust. It was the fact that he was Deublyg's great Granduncle and he helped the General trap their entire family in such a dangerous place. Deublyg was from a noble family known as the Göfugr and they had a history of churning out great warriors and strategist. He was the youngest Dark Elf from the Göfugr clan to earn a General rank and Vincent himself was ancient, easily living since the time when Odin was on his warpath. He has lived for so long, has seen so much and _this_ is how he ended up? It was sad.

"You don't understand." I glanced at the elder Dark Elf, his eyes still on the wall. "We were once a glorious race, we had everything. Wealth, land, armies. Power. At our peak, we could match the Gods and we used that power to chase off that warmonger from our realm. Time and time again he tried; we would send him off like it was nothing." My eyes narrowed when he started to slightly shake and I tensed, ready to react if need be. "But then that fool got greedy. She wanted more and that's when everything went wrong."

"Well that's the thing about greed; it corrupts Man, Elf or God. It doesn't discriminate."

"That it does boy…that it does." Like a ship without sails, all the energy seemed to disperse from Vincent and he leaned against the hard wall. I observed the Dark Elf a bit longer before crossing my legs, getting ready to enter Zen Mode. I wasn't expecting that from the cowardly Elf. He didn't stutter once and had this fierce light in his eyes before it went away. I was curious on where that emotion came from but I had a job to do first, ancient stories on Odin's grim past can wait for later.

Keeping my Chi Vision active, I entered my sub-conscious.

* * *

**5 Hours Later, Jotunheim**

After sleeping and having some lunch, we exited the cave to find that night had settled over the mountain range. The snow being even thicker then it was during the day, we chose to take it slower and huddle together. Emma and Maven were kept in the middle of the pack with everyone else surrounding them (Vincent was forced to walk in front). Crossing a ridge that was close to our destination, I stopped when I felt the aura from earlier. Turning around but failing to see anything, I frowned when I felt it come closer.

"Something's coming." They stopped and scanned the area, on guard for any hostiles.

"Where's it coming from?" Melissa asked as she held her daggers.

"From over ther-" I blinked when I could no longer feel the aura. I created a dozen Chi Swords and sent them flying in the original location where I felt the aura. They pierced through the air, disappearing from our sight and an odd roar came shortly after. A shock wave came towards us, pushing away the falling snow and we got to see what my Chi Constructs hit. A 3 meter tall humanoid with brown fur stood in the middle of the area. It had the head of a wolf with deer antlers. It looked malnourished, the brown fur tightly packed around a skinny body and it held a staff with some sort of horned skull on top of it.

"A Shaman Wendigo?" We turned to Maven who was staring at the monster in shock and curiosity. "I heard they were incredibly rare, why is one on this mountain?"

"No clue...I'll go ask him." I walked forward and stopped a couple meters from the Wendigo. I tuned out the others telling me to come back. "Hey, how's it going? Crazy weather am I right?"

"…" The creature simply tilted its head.

"So yeah, we're trying to find a friend and we were wondering if you've seen them anywhere?" It just kept staring at me. "No? Okay then, thank you for your tim-."

"You're all going to die here." The Shaman Wendigo spoke with a demonic voice. I clapped my hands.

"So it does speak! And the first thing it says is a threat; you must fun at parties." I smiled and the Shaman Wendigo narrowed its eyes. "Believe me when I tell you this man, you won't win this fight so how about you scurry along and go back to doing whatever the hell man eating monsters do…besides the obvious." The Shaman response was very simple. He tapped his staff on the ground and dozens of piercing red eyes came from the snow, all glaring in our direction. I blankly stared at the Shaman Wendigo.

"We shall feast on your bodies and offer your souls to-" I couldn't hear the rest of what he had to say, probably due to using Dáinsleif to cut his head clean off but that's just me guessing. As the headless body hit the ground the Wendigos in the blizzard didn't waste time. Charging at us with reckless abandon, I slammed down on the ground with a Seismic Fist. The ground splintered around me, causing the first line of Wendigos to stumble and trip over each other.

**_"__Flammis Acribus Malestrom!" _**Maven blasted the enemies with a fire spell. It wasn't as searing or large as usual because of our location but it still burned a decent portion of them. Vargas expertly slashed at every Wendigo that came his way, body parts and mainly heads hitting the snow in question succession. Melissa stayed back to protect Emma and Vincent, making sure no Wendigo got past her. I was surprised though when I saw a Wendigo flank Melissa from her left and was sent flying by Emma's mace. The brutal weapon handling and the noble figure Emma gave off painted an interesting picture.

_**"Vita**__**E**__**nim **__**S**__**pirituum **__**E**__**st**__**!" **_Slicing a Wendigo in half, I jumped when a spectral being came from the body and bite my arm. Grimacing at the way the specter got through my Touki, I sliced through the body and watched it dissipate into (ghost?) ash. Healing the wound with Chi, I heard Vargas chant.

_**"****Lux Dei**__**." **_The Spirit Inheritor started to glow in a bright, holy light and the specter Wendigos around us started to scream in pain before turning to ash. I saw that the majority of the fallen Wendigos turned into specters before being destroyed by Vargas' Ode. My eyes widened when I saw the Shaman Wendigo standing to the side.

'Wait, didn't I kill him?' I looked over to where I originally killed the leader Wendigo and saw a lone monster without its head, a bit away from the other piles of bodies. Walking towards it to kill it again, a large shadow flew above us and the flapping of wings caught my attention.

"Oh what now!?" Melissa said, crushing a Wendigo's neck with a Chi coated hand and we looked up at the new arrival. A ten meter tall blue Dragon floated in the air, crystals littered its spine and golden sigils were on its arms and legs. We braced for any attacks but it never looked in our direction. The Dragon stared right at the Shaman Wendigo for a second before opening breathing an ice attack towards it. The Shaman lifted his staff and a black barrier blocked the attack.

_**"****Manus **__**A**__**utem **__**S**__**qualent **__**A**__**bductis**__**!" **_Grabbing a Wendigo and slicing its neck, the Shaman chanted. A specter came from its body but it had a red aura around it. It flew at the Dragon, the legendary breath attack for some reason not affecting the intangible body and the specter latched onto its leg. The Dragon roared in pain, its leg being quickly corroded by the specter. I gulped when the Dragon's eyes started turning red and it's aura started to increase rapidly.

"Time to go!" I did not feel like dealing with a Dragon on Outrage today. Using their pissing contest as the moment to escape, we ran into the falling snow as explosions and roars rang out behind us. No one was actually injured from that battle but we didn't have the innate resistance to cold like the Wendigos and Ice Dragon, we each had a piece of frost on our bodies that hampered our movement. Thankfully, we made it to the mountain that Vincent pointed out soon after. 'And he better be right or else I'm sealing his magic and kicking him off the nearest cliff!' Finding a smooth path up, I led the way and we made it halfway before a problem arrived in the form of a small click under my foot.

"Holy-" The world's biggest bear trap sprung on me, the jaw easily reaching my neck and I activated my 3rd Order Strengthening Spell on reflex. The trap was modified by Norse Runes, having way more power then it reasonably should and I gritted my teeth from holding it back. Melissa and Vargas sliced the trap to pieces.

"Are you okay!?" The Shadow Yokai appeared next to me, worry all over her face.

"I'm fine." Rubbing my strained wrists, I stared up the path. "How much you want to bet there will be more?" No one stood forward to take that bet. Vargas summoned his Templar apparitions, making them take the lead. The next half an hour was spent watching the apparitions trip all types of traps like the bear trap from earlier to falling into spiked cages. Giving a small prayer of thanks to a Templar apparition that was smacked off the mountain by a massive boulder; we reached the top of the mountain.

"Is this it?" Emma asked as we looked around. There was nothing up here besides a dark cave that probably hasn't seen activity in years.

"Yes, this is where I brought my family." Vincent answered and I crossed my arms.

"Want to tell us anything important before we ent-" I leaned to the left as an arrow my height flew by me, getting stuck in the rock behind us. Turning to where the arrow came from, we saw a Jotunn in leather armor standing by the cave's entrance. He had a crossbow in one arm and a hammer in the other. His rough face but young and his tall figure was quite imposing. "…So who wants to say hello this time?" The other rolled their eyes and Vargas stepped forward, raising his hands in show of peace when the Jötunn pointed his crossbow at us (mine was better).

"Hey its okay, we're not here to cause trouble. We just want to find a friend of ours."

"I find that hard to believe." The Jötunn scuffed.

"It's the truth." Vargas pressed on when he stayed quiet. "Have you seen a couple of Dark Elves around here? Like her?" The Spirit Inheritor pointed at Emma and the Jötunn narrowed his eyes.

"And what if I did?"

"Then you can help us reunite a daughter and father, get rid of this freak blizzard and make it in time to participate in a supernatural war before brunch."

"…"

"…"

"…What is a brunch?" Vargas, Melissa and Maven face palmed as I explained the intricate workings of eating breakfast and lunch late in the morning. By the time I was done, the Jötunn lowered his crossbow and stared at us. "…Follow me." He turned to walk into the cave and we followed after him at a respectable distance. Walking for a minute, we came upon a large stone door with Norse symbols and the Jötunn pushed it open. A bright light came from the crack in the door and when it fully opened, we saw it was coming from the sun high in the sky. A wide open field of grass lied before us, a row of wood houses and a river flowed calmly next to them. I noticed how the center of the sky was blue but in the distance, it was a myriad of colors.

"What is this?"

"This is a separate space created by the Jötunn magicians. A sanctuary for young Jötunns who can't handle Ymir's Breath and take refugee here until the blizzard passes." The Jötunn answered, walking towards the row of houses. When we got closer, we saw a couple of Dark Elves, both young and old walking about. We stopped when heard something drop and turned to see a young Dark Elf staring at us in shock.

"Féla?" Emma gasped and the Elf Princess stepped towards her friend.

"E-Emma?" Féla looked equally stunned. They stared at each other before Emma pulled her into a deep hug, one the Dark Elf returned. "I-I thought you were dead."

"What? Why would you think that?" Emma looked at her friend in confusion.

"My father, after he trapped us here with your father I feared he would…" Féla scanned Emma's form for a second before smiling. "I'm glad you're okay." The Princess just smiled and hugged her again. We stood watching the scene from a distance away, smiling at their reunion.

"How beautiful, it's almost enough to move my blackened heart." I said, wiping an imaginary tear from my eye. "This is true friendship!"

"Friendship huh…" Vargas' gazed lowered to the way they locked fingers and the way Emma placed her face in Féla's neck, taking a deep breath. I understandingly nodded at what he was implied, sensing their intimate emotions with my Chi and leaned towards the others.

"So how do you think that's going work? I mean, she's a princess. Doesn't she need to pass on the bloodline or something?" He shrugged.

"Hell if know, I think with the war they have more important things to worry about."

"Oh please, royalty and nobles will always find a way to bring up irrelevant things no matter the situation." Maven said with distaste. "They're most likely keeping it a secret."

"Oohh, like a forbidden love? How romantic." I quirked a brow at Melissa's words.

"Is it really that forbidden? What happens if they get caught?" Will they get killed or exiled for loving the same gender like humanity has done occasion on before? With how many beings in DxD that can wipe out armies, cause natural disasters and be overall badass I find it very hard to believe some weren't openly gay. Condemning them for their sexual preference doesn't sound like a very good (or sane) idea.

"Most likely nothing, they'll probably just ask her to hide it. The Dark Elves were ruled by a matriarch in the past and she was known for getting around."

"Ah-hem." Emma cleared to get our attention and she nodded to a house down the street. "Come on, Féla says my father's here." We followed the Dark Elf to the largest house in the area and we met Emma's father, Eldon Flostenebris. The Dark Elf king was a handsome man with short black hair and sharp eyes. He carried himself with a noble's stride but anyone can tell he was happy to see his daughter with how his face lit up. Giving a bear hug to his daughter, he immediately started asking if she was okay, what was she thinking on coming to such a dangerous place, how were her siblings, etc. By the time he finished asking all his questions rapid fire (Emma barely got to answer half of them), he finally acknowledged our existence and thanked us for keeping his daughter safe. It was only when he got to Vargas that he discovered Vincent, who was using the large warrior for cover.

Then the King punched the elderly Elf in the face. I slightly winced at the way Vincent's face smacked the ground.

'For a guy who isn't good fighting, that was a quite a punch.' Knocking a couple teeth from the elder Dark Elf's mouth, Eldon glared down at Vincent.

"You sure have nerve, dragging my daughter here as well. Is this Deublyg's plan? Bring my family here one by one until he rules my kingdom?"

"Um, about that…" Eldon moved his gaze from Vincent and watched me as I scratched the back of my head. "It was our idea to enter the blizzard. And she agreed!" Adding that since his eyes hardened, he looked at his daughter for an answer. Emma gave a wry smile.

"I just wanted to find you father, it's…it's been awful since you disappeared."

"…Tell me everything."

Calling two Dark Elves to bring away Vincent, we sat down in the living room as Emma told her father about the current situation of their kingdom. Telling him about the siblings fighting for the crown, how the other kingdoms distanced themselves from the Flostenebris family because of their actions and how it was impacting the Svartálfar Faction's chances of winning, Eldon listened silently through it all. When Emma finished her father sighed and leaned back on his chair, looking incredibly fatigued.

"Where did I go wrong?" He asked but no one had an answer to that. "Was it my belief's? Was I too naïve? I just wanted our race to be above slavery and bloodshed but it seems like that's all we're good for." Emma kneeled next to her downcast father.

"It's not, we can be better but we need you for it to happen. We need to pull ourselves together and get back before it's too late, please." Holding his daughter's hand, he shook his head.

"I wish I could but we're not strong enough to get out of here. Those beasts will never give them up."

"Give what up? You know how to get out here?"

"Yes, we figured out what caused this blizzard but we can't do anything about it." Emma looked back at us and I stepped forward.

"Tell us." Quirking a brow at me, Eldon looked to his daughter who nodded in turn. He stood up and brought outside, heading towards a house that sat away from the others. The house was abnormally large, appearing more like a mansion if it wasn't for the simplistic design. Eldon knocked on the massive door and the Jötunn from before opened the door. His name was Veiði . While he was slightly surprised to see us, he didn't turn us away and invited us inside. Sitting us in the living room and giving us normal sized cups full of tea (Vargas approved), Eldon told him we came to help.

"Them?" He pointed at us and snorted when Eldon confirmed it. "I think you'll have better odds with the brats you're stuck with."

"Better odds on what? Can someone please explain already?" I asked, a little tired of the run around and Veiði turned to me.

"Have you ever heard of the Auðumbla and the Rime Stone, boy?"

"Uhhh, can't say that I have."

"In the early years of Ymir as the First Jötunn, he met a sacred cow and chose to travel with it. He would drink its milk when he was hungry, rode on it's back when he was tired and fought to protect it when danger arrived. The cow was called the Auðumbla. One day, when he was drinking from the Auðumbla's tit, the cow spat out a bright white stone. Fascinated by the rock Ymir discovered that he could breed life by offering the stone a piece of his flesh. Búri, grandfather of the Norse Gods was his first creation. For 3,000 years after he was a nomad and wanderer, littering the nine worlds with his creations. That stone was known as the Rime Stone."

"Was?"

"It lost its power long ago but he always kept it on his person, fastening it as a necklace. When he died on this mountain, the Rime Stone and the skull of the Auðumbla was placed on his grave to honor his memory...until a month ago anyway." No one knows how but Deublyg was able to rip out Ymir's soul from his body and split it in half, placing each in the skull of the Auðumbla and the Rime Stone. The act kick started Ymir's Breath and they were still in this mountain. "After much searching, we were able to find out that the Ice Dragon inhabiting this mountain has the Rime Stone. It never leaves its cave however so we've never had the chance to take it and we have no idea where the Auðumbla's skull is." Veiði finished speaking, leaning back on his seat. I made a weird face and looked to the others, seeing that they had the same expression.

"Is Auðumbla's skull a normal sized cow skull that's slightly blackened and would fit nicely on top of a man eating shaman's witch stick?"

"...What?" Veiði and Eldon said at the same time. Maven smacked me on the back of the head.

"We know where Auðumbla's skull is." Vargas clarified and they were shocked.

"Where?"

"A Wendigo Shaman has it and it uses it to great effect." I stood up and faced the Jötunn. "We need to know where that Dragon's cave is." He shrugged

"Sure but we need a plan of attack. We can't just walk in there without it. Do you have one?" My smiled threatened the split my face.

"Oh I thought you'd never ask." Doing the now nostalgic action of rubbing my space ring, I turned to see my chalkboard appear in the room. "Hello old friend, it's been too long." Giving the board a fond look, I grabbed a piece of chalk and started to write the title. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, its time for operation Jötunn Forecast! It is negative hundred degrees outside with 60 miles deadly winds and sure chance of frostbite. I recommend a sweater." I waited a second but furrowed my brows when no reacted. "What? No one has a witty comment?"

"Oh I got several-" Vargas was stopped by Melissa kicking his shin. "But we're kind of on a time clock so we should hurry...and ow." The Spirit Inheritor rubbed his armored shin while the Shadow Yokai shrugged.

"Fair enough. This operation has two teams. Team one will have Melissa, Maven, Emma and Eldon. Eldon will lead you three to the Ice Dragon's cave to which Melissa will use the Shadow Zone to sneak into." Melissa couldn't use the Shadow Zone to exit or enter Ymir's Breath but she could use them freely inside. "You are not to attack the Dragon, if you can steal the Rime Stone then escape right away. Maven and Emma will be for back up if the Dragon does find Melissa." I wrote team two. "The second team will have Vargas, Veiði and I. My Chi Vision is weakened by the blizzard so it stands to reason that tracking Chi Signature's would also be a struggle."

"So you need me to track the Wendigos."

"Precisely. You help us find their evil lair and me and Vargas will do the rest." Placing the chalkboard back into my space ring, I dusted my hands and stared at Emma's raised her hand. "Yes?"

"Where to we bring our objective when we get it? Do we bring it back here?" I shook my head.

"No, we bring it to Ymir's Grave and try to reverse whatever the traitor Elf did. If that's possible."

"I can." We all turned to Veiði who was ready to go, leather armor and all. "Get me both halves of his soul and I'll be able to fix this. I promise." I slowly nodded at his words.

"Any last questions?" I smiled when no one spoke and stood up at the same, resolve in their eyes. "Let's go pay our respects shall we?"

* * *

Vargas, a human sized Veiði and I walked through the snowy mountains. Giving Jade to the others, I had only Dáinsleif to protect us from the supernatural winds. Ignoring his comment of _'I'm all the protection you need!'_, I watched the Jötunn kneel down and inspect the area. While I didn't understand how he got any clues from all the untouched snow, we resumed our trek with him in the lead.

"If you want to ask then go ahead." Veiði said as he walked over a large boulder.

"Why are you so sure you can fix this?" I asked, having been on my mind since he said so. "Do you have past experience with Primordial Giant souls cut in half?" Veiði chuckled at that.

"No but considering I took care of that grave most my life, I have a certain connection with it." Vargas quirked a brow at that.

"You took care of that grave? I thought you were a hunter."

"All Jötunn learn how to hunt by adulthood, one way or another. I was but a child when I decided to scale the highest mountain in this range and Ymir's Breath happened. Alone and cold I kept going until my feet gave out from under me. A Jötunn grave keeper found me and brought me back to health. He asked for nothing in return but I was a particularity stubborn boy and wanted to repay his kindness. So he had me help protect the grave from the monsters and thieves that tried to enter. It was there that I met the progenitor."

"Ymir's soul spoke to you?" I asked but he shook his head.

"He didn't speak to me per say but I could feel his gratitude for protecting his grave and helping his grave keeper. From what the older Jötunn say, Ymir wasn't much a talker and more of a doer." Veiði brought down his scarf to show a Norse Sigil branded on his neck. "He blessed me. I didn't need to stay or protect his grave afterwards but I chose to take the mantle of Grave Keeper from my savior. I've been doing it for a 20 years." His tone got sadder by the end of it and I could guess why.

"You failed to protect it. That's why your out here, isn't it?" He grimly nodded.

"I let this happen, so its my job to clean it up." I hardly felt that was fair. Ymir himself "told" him that he didn't need to take responsibility for anything but that's his conviction, he'll do whatever it takes to uphold it. "We're here." We came to a large cave, the entrance showing a deep and dark corridor. Taking out Tyrfing so I have both Demon Swords out, I nodded to Vargas and Veiði. Taking the lead, we observed the area for any hiding Wendigos. The fact that the Shaman knows to hide auras means I couldn't completely rely on my Chi Vision. Vargas summoned his Templars to surround us but the darkness seemed to overwhelm the light the apparitions gave off.

'Maybe I shouldn't have also gave them Denki.' Then again, they arguably had the more dangerous mission and needed all the help they could get. We didn't wait long before a set of red eyes peeked from behind a rock and charged at us. While a quick slash from Tyrfing cut it down, it started the chain reaction. Dozens of Wendigos started to charge at us, some leaping from the roof while others came from behind.

**_"Leucaspidem Sanctus est Sanguis!" _**Vargas summoned a large holy shield to stop the front charge. I sent a pillar of ice and skewered the line of Wendigos behind us. Commanding his Templars to push the shield, we started shoving the large group of Wendigos through the hall. Slashing any monster that got around, we came to a fork in the road that went left and right.

"Let's go right!"

"Why?!"

"Educated guess!" Using Sword Fury, I slashed a group of Wendigos in two. Leaving the severed monsters, we ran to the hall on our right and came to an wide cavern. There was nothing inside besides a large boulder that was smoothly cut in half. A mat lied in the center and on that mat was a hunched over Wendigo. As if sensing our arrival, it turned around and we recoiled at it's appearance. It was the Shaman Wendigo but it had multiple heads from other Wendigos on its shoulders. It also wasn't malnourished anymore and was even slightly bloated (from what I don't want to know).

"Ah, more meat. Good, I was getting hungry."

"Now now brother, you just ate. Leave some for the others."

"Like you ever share."

"..." We stood in silence as each head spoke, bickering over who got to eat first. I turned to Vargas. "I never want to meet a Hydra."

"Agreed." Channeling Chi into Tyrfing, I send a wave of destruction multi headed monster but a specter of a giant appeared in front of the shaman. The specter was as tall as a regular Jötunn, had long white hair and was built. It carried a staff and had long ropes. I heard a gasp from Veiði.

"Háttr..."

"You know him?" Vargas asked

"Of course he does." The middle Wendigo head spoke, sounding authoritative and smirked maliciously at Veiði. "He was the one who sent you away that day, hoping that you'd escape. I don't know who was the bigger fool, him for sacrificing himself or you for staying." The Wendigo heads started to laugh, causing me to frown and Vargas to hold up his Holy Sword. "Oh well, it's not like it matter." Tapping his staff, specters from wolves to Minotaurs filled the area.

_**"****Lux Dei**__**." **_Using his Ode from earlier, the light obliterated the specters that got too close but the Shaman just chuckled. Waving his staff, a glow appeared around Háttr and charged at us, the light doing nothing. He swung his staff (which was more like a pillar in the Jötunn's hands) but I blocked it, my magic enhanced Touki and Demon Swords being able to block the specter's attacks. Veiði came to and started shooting the other specters, his arrows also containing magic. Vargas went to help Veiði while I fought Háttr, parrying his fast but overly wide swings. Jumping over a low sweep, I tapped his chest with the tip of Tyrfing's blade and sent him flying back. Landing on the ground, a hole appeared on its chest and it struggled to stand. The Shaman Wendigo didn't look bothered.

"You fight but you already lost."

"They truly are foolish aren't they?"

"Very fooli-" They disappeared from their location, dodging the ice pillar I sent at them. Reappearing a couple meters away, they gave me a deadpan. "It's rude to interrupt someone."

"So is going on a villain rant and wasting everyone's time but here we are." I smiled at the glare they gave me. Stopping said villain rant is even harder when they have multiple mouths to speak from. Before I could Chi Burst to the Shaman, he flew up and hovered above Háttr's specter. Waving his staff, white flames glowed in the Auðumbla's eye socket.

_**"Belgr Gleypa!" **_Háttr was sucked into the mouth of the middle Wendigo, its body increasing in size soon after. Growing ten meters tall, it's muscles bulged and the staff grew as well. Cackling, the Shaman slammed a fist into the cave walls. The rock wall shattered under it's new strength, leaving a massive crater and even bigger smiles on their faces. "Hahahah, so this is what power feels like? It's incredib-"

"It's not." The Shaman stopped and turned to me, my face expressionless. "That's not real power, not even close. Greater strength is good and all but if it isn't yours then there's no point. Power unearned is power not trustworthy." The Shaman paused for a second before rage appeared in their faces.

"No! This is real power! I'm stronger then I was and I'm stronger then you!"

"Oh?" Giving an amused smile, I spread out my arms. "Then come prove it."

It was almost too easy sometimes. Not bothering to cast a spell or sent a wave of ghost energy at me, the Shaman jumped high in the air and swung down with it's staff. Cracks spread across the cave floor, starting from it's center and reaching it's corners. Large boulders fell from the roof and the entire mountain shook from the impact, threatening to bring it down. Vargas and Veiði stood in shock (mainly Veiði) among the splintered floor as the giant sized Shaman numbly stared at it's staff...which was perfectly blocked by my Demon Swords. It's muscular arms were bleeding.

"I-we d-don't-"

"I told you, you shouldn't trust power that you didn't earn." Rolling my arms from the sudden force of the Shaman's attacks, I smirked at the Shaman as it slowly walked backwards. "Let me show you _my_ power." Chanting, a Norse Magic circle appeared on my chest and my Touki turned rose gold. Bringing Tyrfing and Dáinsleif together, I activated Sword Fury. In a last ditch attempt, the Shaman roared and lunged at me but two long beams of green, purple and rose gold met him instead.

Then the mountain came down this time.

* * *

**2 Hours Later, Ymir's Grave**

Atop the highest mountain sat a majestic gate that led underground. They called it Ymir's Grave but it was more like a beautifully made tomb, his massive coffin in the center of a long hall that could fill multiple football fields. Made from some incredibly rare and probably very expensive material, the coffin containing the First Jötunn's body rested on a podium. While the body caused the blizzard, it didn't spew out of it directly and formed around it, leaving a space of peace (like the eye of a storm) A bunch of offerings from past Jötunn who made the trek littered the grounds. We placed the skull of the Auðumbla by the coffin's side, it's size now dozens of meters tall. The reason it was a so small before was because the Shaman shrank it to make it fit easier on its staff. Standing next to the coffin that was a least a hundred meters long, I was very tempted to open it to see the Primordial Jötunn first hand but held myself back.

'I wouldn't want someone to disturb my coffin just to sate their curiosity...then again, I'm already dead at that point so why would I care?' As I internally questioned whether opening the coffin for a quick peek would be so bad, Vargas paced around.

"They should be here already. Do you think they got caught by the Dragon?"

"Unlikely, Melissa could hide from an adept Senjutsu user if she tried." Should I get a crowbar? No, that's pretty disrespectful...so bare hands?

"Then why are they taking so long? Do you think..." I gave Vargas a stern look.

"You know them Vargas, they've dealt with far stronger than a Ice lizard with a stone fetish. Just trust them." My words seemed to calm the Spirit Inheritor. I wasn't lying, the walk alone over here took the majority of the time and they weren't weak. Maven with her magic and Melissa with her Chi could face the Dragon even if it had Outrage. "Of course, if they don't come soon then we'll have Veiði take us to that Dragon's cave." That doesn't mean I didn't worry. Vargas smiled.

"Good idea."

"I know, now leave me alone so I can figure how to open this coffin without it being offensive."

"What?/Huh?" Veiði and I spoke at the same time. The Jötunn narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously (an action I mirrored) before he went back to making a Norse Symbol on the podium. It was ritual that he regularly did to commune with Ymir's spirit and its how we'll put the split souls back together. A couple minutes passed before a bundle of shadows gathered and Melissa walked out of it with the others.

"How can the snow filter into the shadows!?" The Shadow Yokai shook off the snow on her shoulders, rubbing them to warm up. Maven, Emma and Eldon were in the same boat.

"See, I told you they would be alright." I tapped Vargas on the shoulder and walked up to them. "How'd it go?"

"We got the stone, the Ice Dragon was sleeping and never noticed we were there." Melissa said proudly, causing me to pet her head. Jade jumped off Maven's shoulder to mine and Denki walked over to me, rubbing his head on my leg.

"Come, place the Rime Stone over here." Veiði said and Maven walked over, dropping the Rime Stone on the podium. It was 5 meters tall and the white shined like crystal. I could feel a pulse coming from inside of it with my Spiritual Energy. The Jötunn started to chant, placing a hand over the Rime Stone and the Auðumbla's skull. A white aura emitted from both objects, slowly being dragging out and combined together. Veiði sweated heavily, showing the great effort the task demanded. Soon, the white aura was completely taken from the relics and a ball of energy floated above the coffin. It dropped and spilled over the coffin, seeping into its edges. Veiði let out a breath and sat down. "It's done."

'Really? That's it?' The others had the same thought if their faces were any indicator. We walked to the front gate and there was no raging snow blocking our sight, a clear view of Jotunheim laid in front of us. I whistled at the view of Jotunheim's prehistoric forests and seas. I glanced over to see Eldon watching the view with an unreadable expression. "Happy to almost be home?"

"I-I am happy to see my family and subjects after this nightmare but...I just wish it wasn't under such conditions." His face saddened. "Maybe...maybe I shouldn't go back. We're losing as it is, my return may just make things worse."

"Probably. Or you could fix everything." Eldon looked at me with a puzzled expression and I shrugged. "Look, I know that things haven't been the best for you lately. Your kingdom is facing a war, your close friend betrayed you and your kids are making a bigger mess that borders on civil war."

"...You're terrible at this." The Elf King deadpanned but instead of responding, I pointed to Emma who was speaking with the others.

"But she came didn't she? She went to two different pantheons and through a deadly blizzard to save her father who she believes can save the place she loves. That's got to count for something." Eldon stared at Emma before a fond smile came on his face.

"Thank you."

"Any time." Clapping him on the back, we went to join the others. They planned to bring the rest of Göfugr clan here to transport them out of Jotunheim. We asked what Veiði will do if the Ice Dragon comes to take away both relics but the Jötunn already alerted the nearest Giant Chief (some Jötunn named Fasolt) about the situation and they will send troops to slay the Dragon. There was also a library of Norse magic knowledge within the tomb and Veiði offered us entry, much to Maven's delight. So, while Melissa and Vargas went to retrieve the clan with the Elf daughter and father duo, I stayed behind until Maven was done.

"I must thank you again for this, I would have never been able to retrieve both relics by myself." I waved my hand at his thanks.

"It was no problem, we were stuck here too." I stared up at the coffin and asked. "So how is old Ymir after that whole soul splitting thing?"

"It's the second most unpleasant experience he's ever had and hopes it never happens again." Veiði deadpanned and I chuckled, guessing what the first one was. "And he's grateful for everything you and your friends have done. If there's anything you want that's in my power, I will fulfill it."

"Anything huh..." I thought for a second before staring at the top of the coffin. "Well-"

"Besides opening the coffin."

"Oh come on, just a little peek!" I insisted but he crossed his arms.

"No."

"Urgghhh..." I groaned then pointed to the two relics. "Then give me one of them at least." They would be cool trophies but Veiði's face scrunched up.

"Absolutely not! Those are-" The Jötunn abruptly stopped and looked up at the coffin. His face went through a mix of expressions from puzzlement to shock and I leaned forward.

"What? What happened?" Veiði blinked before looking back at me and making an odd face.

"You can however much of the Rime Stone you want but leave Auðumbla alone." I was slightly stunned and pointed at the coffin in hesitation.

"D-Did he say?" The Jötunn slowly nodded and I stared at the Rime Stone in silence. Looking between the stone that birthed a race and the coffin of the First Giant, I had only one question. "...How much is 'however much I want'?"

Veiði's blank face was my answer.

* * *

**20 Minutes Later, Outside Ymir's Grave**

"Finally, I can't wait to get to somewhere warm and safe." Melissa said as she stretched and Maven snorted.

"Well we're definitely going somewhere warm." Getting a playful tap from the Shadow Yokai because of the comment, the mage scanned the area to see if everyone was here and frowned when she didn't see Pierce. "Hey, where's-"

"I'm here, I'm here!" He ran out of the gate, coming next to the team. "I'm finished getting everything." She quirked a brow at that.

"Finish getting what?" He smirked.

"It's a surprise." While that made the others curious, they chose to leave it alone and Eldon cast a teleportation spell. A large magic circle appearing under them, the group comprising of an Emissaries party and Elves exited the realm of Jotunheim. Inside Ymir's Grave, Veiði tended to the hall and watched over Ymir's body. The skull of Auðumbla sat alone on the podium.

* * *

And done. True strength comes to those that strive for it...Or those lucky enough to be born with God killing weapons. I'm pretty sure it's one of those two. Onward to Svartalfheim! (I hope you enjoyed!)


	39. Chapter 38

**Answers to reviewers statements or questions**

* * *

**Famond: **First things first, let me get this out of the way. There is no evidence of Athena's personality, likes, dislikes or over all view in canon DxD. She exists but that's about it, there's no information on her so I had to make her from scratch. Second of all, the reason Pierce has a harem because if I was in his place, I would want a harem in a universe where near every supernatural woman is drop dead gorgeous and most have no problem with polygamy. I like DxD very much for its lore potential but it does speak to my inner horn dog with the wish fulfillment in that area. By the way, Gods live for thousands of years but so Devils, Yokais, Angels, etc. lifespan is no problem when it comes to deities interacting with "mortals". And DxD plays loose with Gods and Buddhas, they have faith powers but domains and abstract concepts are not really there (expect for Ophis and Great Red but they are the pinnacle).

**Stereborg: **My dude, there are literally hundreds of actual books and fan fictions incorporating Greek mythology and most of them stray from the original source material. If you need an actual reason then it's because being a Virgin Goddess would not work for an actual living person that can feel things like happiness, sadness, love and hate. No matter how afraid she is of being with someone that's like Zeus or keeping true to some holy vow, she will eventually try for love after a while. I like to believe my story is good not because of the plot or fight scenes but because my characters feel like real people with actual emotions, Athena included (by the way, DxD is the last place to expect to find Gods acting exactly like their original myth).

**Server Lock**: Being a Pure Angel doesn't mean you haven't had sex. It's been mentioned multiple times in canon that Angels fall when they have overly lustful intentions and actions, meaning it's possible to have sex as long as it's out of pure love. It's rare but Angels have fallen in love with humans, had kids with them and still remain Pure Angels.

* * *

**Chapter 38: A High Queen and Party Poopers**

Disclaimer: Sooooo…Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the copyright infringement office and tell their lawyers that Omit Everything does not own Highschool DxD. On its way out, it forgot to mention that he owns the OCs so Omit made chicken soup that night. (No actual chickens were harmed in the process of making this short bit…okay one was but he knew too much).

Speech – "Hey, I'm Pierce."

Inner Speech – _'Neat'_

Thoughts – 'I'm dead.'

Spells – **_"Jumon"_**

* * *

**2 Days Later, Svartalfheim**

The hierarchy of supernatural beings came down to two simple concepts. The first of these concepts was power. This was a given. With power you could protect what you hold dear from those that wish it harm. With power you could invade other lands for resources and manpower. Power made the world go round. Without it many would either ignore you or worse, crush you under their heel. It was a cold truth but a truth nonetheless. Humans were no different.

The second was pedigree. In the same way, pedigree held a certain sway. It's what made a king a king and a slave a slave. The majority of the supernatural world (with some exceptions) looked at someone's pedigree before the person even if said person was incredibly powerful. That's because pedigree meant history and history meant a lot to any race.

Far away from the Flostenebris Royal Capital and in the dead center of Northern Svartalfheim, a Dark Elf that had both these concepts in spades stood reading a letter. The Dark Elf was a tall woman were gray skin that was a shade darker than the rest of her kind. Long black hair that reached her lower back, an incredibly voluptuous figure that was hidden by her robe and a silver tiara that fit snuggly around her forehead. This was the queen and sole ruler of the Tardálfar kingdom, Alva Tardálfar. And she was smiling a beautiful smile.

"I believe you owe me that bottle of Asgardian Ale now." Alva said, turning to look at the figure kneeling on the ground. It was a male Dark Elf with red armor and a handsome face that was slightly ruined by his stony expression. This was Calder, her Royal Guard, childhood friend and on occasion lover.

"It could be a trick meant to lower our guard my queen. They may need to resort to such tactics after the siege on Svartálfar Wall. They must be stretched thin." Alva tilted her head in thought.

"Possibly but of those two brats, I could only see the girl pulling something like this off and the wording is far too direct. If this was her, she would have definitely added some flattering words."

"So you think the reports are true?" Calder asked and she nodded.

"It seems their wayward king found his way home." Alva dropped the letter that had the Flostenebris Royal mark on her desk and proceeded to lounge on her throne. "Send a response back as soon as possible and invite him to the party; we have some catching up to do." Calder bowed and stood to exit, ready to fulfill his queen's command. Watching her loyal guard leave the room, Alva found herself staring blankly into space. Alva would be lying if she said she didn't have reservations on helping the Flostenebris family. After the whole debacle with their infighting, she was putting her own credibility at risk if they handled this poorly.

'Though that's nothing new to my line is it?' She internally snorted, finding her random thought quite on the mark. She could just back out from this war. The leader of the Dökkálfar Faction already came to her once, hoping that she'll stay out of this war. It would be so easy to. It wasn't like she owed the other kings anything nor do they expect it. Maybe…

"Mother?" A quiet voice interrupted Alva's thoughts. She turned her head and saw a small Dark Elf girl peek inside from the door.

"Eleanor? What happened sweetie?" Her nine year old daughter looked around the room curiously.

"Are you busy?" Eleanor fidgeted when Alva shook her head. "I-I just finished my first lesson on Light Magic."

"So you can cast a 1st Order Spell? Can you show me?" The Queen softly smiled when her daughter beamed and walked forward, excited to show off her efforts. Alva personally found her daughter's love for Light Magic a little odd. Her race was naturally attuned to Dark Magic along with those that branched off it like Necromancy and Death Magic but Eleanor preferred the opposite. She, in her words, found it "warmer" and more "welcoming" (she wasn't wrong). Regardless, her daughter rarely made requests so when she asked for a teacher to study Light Magic she didn't think twice.

**_"_****_Ljóss Lið!" _**A Norse circle appeared in front of her daughter before a way of light went out from it. It washed over the room and Alva closed her eyes as the energy cleansed her. Contrary to popular belief, light powers weren't poisonous to Dark Elves like they were to Devils and Vampires. Even when it came to Devils, it usually has to be holy light for it be dangerous. Alva reopened her eyes to see Eleanor's expectant gaze.

"That was very good. I see those lessons Kari has been giving you paid off."

"They have! She's shown me all these exercises on how to communicate with Light Mana and how she'll teach me to commune with Light Spirits and…" Alva just listened to her daughter talk, pulling her up on her lap to get more comfortable. Watching the excited little girl go on and on about her studies to how her day went reaffirmed why she was doing this.

Alva Tardálfar didn't do easy. She knew who Talien served and refused to submit to the Monster God. Her ancestor did something similar long ago and look where she ended up. A splintered realm and a blemish in history. Alva would fight for what she believed in and if the First Dark Elf Queen's bloodline ended with her then…then she'd just have burn that bridge when she gets to it.

'I hear Alfheim is nice this time of the year…'

Back to Pierce

"…So you took the whole thing?" Vargas asked incredulously, admiring the small piece of the Rime Stone in his hand.

"Yeah. I tried to break it in half with Tyrfing but even after a couple of hits, that piece was all that came off so I just chucked the whole thing inside. Veiði didn't say anything." I shrugged as I leaned against the railing, holding my head up with one hand. Aindrea looked at me with a strange expression.

"Do you have any idea how much something like that is worth?"

"…A lot?"

"I think it's a little more than "a lot" Pierce." Melissa deadpanned and I blinked.

"Oh…so a lot lot?"

Getting a round of scuffs and eye rolls, I waved my hand when Vargas asked if he could keep the piece he was holding. The entire team was lounging in Eldon's office, having been summoned an hour ago. To say the king's return was awkward was like saying Aphrodite was beautiful or that Zeus was once a player. The city was in an uproar; its citizens surprised and excited to see their missing king had returned. I was slightly shocked to see how loved Eldon was with how we were paraded as heroes for bringing him back.

The castle was a different situation altogether. While the soldiers and lesser officers were happy to see their ruler, the nobles weren't. Lecturing and putting both Crown runners under house arrest, the nobles that split the kingdom were also punished. The last two days were spent cleaning up the mess his kids made and for the most part, it was going without issue.

'If you don't count putting your highest ranked subordinate in prison a small bump.' Eldon didn't forget to punish the main perpetrator for his disappearance. Deublyg was brought in immediately by order of the Elf King and was to face trial after this war was over. The zealous General didn't react or resist when his (reluctant) troops arrested him. All he said in his defense was that he was glad Eldon was safe and sound. I would've snorted at the comment…if I wasn't there and sensed how he was completely genuine.

That traitor Dark Elf sure was a mixed bag.

"Ah, you're all here good. Forgive me for the wait; we had little time to prepare." Eldon entered the room with Emma and Elijah coming up behind him. Adrian slightly bowed to the king.

"It is alright we haven't been waiting long. However, what are you preparing for?"

"The invitation to the High Queen's Ball." Eldon sat behind his desk and took out a letter, giving it to Adrian. A symbol with fancy silver engravings that formed into a crown rested on the front. "Queen Alva invited us after I sent a letter explaining my absence and the subsequent turmoil that came after."

"What is the High Queen's Ball?" Adrian asked and Emma answered.

"It was the annual event hosted by the Original Ruler of Svartalfheim and Matriarch of the Dark Elves, Runa Tardálfar. She would invite the lords of her kingdom to the ball and give out awards to those that did great military achievements, contribute to the realm or both. While the Tardálfar Family no longer rules all of Dark Elf kind, they are still oldest bloodline to exist and they do have the strongest army in Svartalfheim. The queen is also said to be immensely powerful." We paid rapt attention to Emma's explanation and I found myself comparing the Tardálfar Royal Family to the Lucifer Clan. Both Progenitors helped tremendously in making their once glorious kingdom a shell of its former self (though it could be argued Lucifer did a better job).

But even with their failures, their words still carried weight. The Lucifer Clan still had massive sway over Devil population to the point where the descendants used it to start a civil war and the Tardálfar Royal was most likely the same. If they added their own say on top of Eldon's already high reputation then they could earn back the trust of the other kingdoms.

"So when is this ball?"

"In a couple of hours. We are to travel to the Tardálfar kingdom as soon as we can. You should all start to get ready." Emma said and I furrowed my brows.

"You all?" The Princess nodded.

"You are coming along as our Guard detail." Emma said, standing up and leaving with Elijah. I turned to the others.

"So who wants to go?" While the Princess implied we could all go, that probably wasn't the best idea. What happens if they were all gone and Talien attacks the wall again or Deublyg chooses to escape? Their soldiers were spread thin enough from protecting the wall and keeping the city in order. Also, the imprisoned Dark Elf was supposedly the strongest combatant the kingdom had and the way he came in without resistance was very suspicious. "Personally, I don't do Royal Balls so I'm out."

"Really? Why not?" Melissa asked and I sighed, gaining a distant expression.

"It was the summer of '95. I sat under the moonlight of the bus stop as I waited for Catherin Silvia. I still remember the smell of the orchard I held in my hands but it never reached its intended place. It was a lonely night."

"…"

"…"

"…What?" I chuckled.

"Also, I can't dance."

Vargas and Maven also called out as well, not wanting to deal with a room full of snotty nobles and politics. So that left Adrian, Samantha, Aindrea and Melissa to go as the guard detail. Eldon was still working behind his desk as we decided so he knew and had a couple of maids to come arrange us.

"Wait, do they have to actually dress up for this Ball?" I asked, seeing the maids bring noble attire and the king nodded.

"Even for the personal guards, it's in bad taste to come in armor and open weaponry."

"…Isn't that the purpose of a guard?" I deadpanned and he wryly smiled.

"I don't make the rules." I looked at the others as they browsed the different outfits and an idea entered my head.

"Hey, if you don't mind I got an idea for what they can wear. I promise it'll be _very_ high class." He quirked a brow before shrugging.

"Sure." I widely smiled as I turned to the resident mage.

"Great. Hey Maven, I'm going to need that teaching outfit I gave you awhile ago."

* * *

**5 Hours Later, Tardálfar Castle**

The Flostenebris royal carriage was pulled along the neat and immaculate streets of Førál, capital of the Tardálfar kingdom. One of the oldest, if not the eldest, city in Svartalfheim the barriers that protected this city were numerous. Samantha commented that the barriers they passed through were eerily similar if not a bit weaker than the ones she sensed when in Asgard's walls. Considering Odin's connection to the original High Queen, it wasn't a surprise that the God King helped set up protection for her city.

The castle itself was another story all together. Looking more like a palace than a European castle, there were no high walls or towers but that did not mean it wasn't heavily protected. Large beacons of light illuminated the darkness with a great number of soldiers regularly patrolling the grounds with large beasts that ranged from 5 meter tall wolves to Wyverns flying in the air space. The night sky made the beasts all the more intimidating.

"The Queen doesn't joke around when it comes to her soldiers huh?" Melissa commented as she scanned some of the troops with her sensing abilities. Plenty emitted dense auras of Spiritual Energy and Chi, some even locking eyes with her when she did so. 'The fact they noticed my probe means they could use Chi techniques to the level of an average Yokai.' Considering the majority of her race are expected to learn to manipulate Chi when they come of age, a large army of Elves doing the same was actually very impressive.

"Like I said, she may not rule all of Dark Elf kind anymore she still has the strongest army in Svartalfheim. Well…second strongest anyway." The group frowned at Eldon's words, staring at the approaching palace. The strongest army in this realm naturally went to Talien's Dökkálfar Faction. The Dark Elf king's rise to power was actually in large portion successful due to Zeth. Originally a king of a small kingdom that he ruled with fear, Zeth helped Talien assimilate the neighboring kingdoms by having Shuten and Shiruku assassinate their rulers. By the time the stronger kingdoms found out about the deed, Talien gained a tight grip on most of Southern Svartalfheim.

'And now he has a large number of enslaved Dwarves making him magical weapons of war. Wonderful.' Adrian thought as the carriage arrived in front of the palace entrance. A butler waited outside and bowed when both Royal members walked out.

"Welcome your Majesty Eldon Flostenebris and Princess Emma Flostenebris, my Queen has been awaiting your arrival. Please, follow me." Walking towards the door, the father and daughter duo followed with the others keeping a respectful distance. Eldon was wearing a blue noble's attire with frills and a cape. Emma wore a long red dress and a tiara, looking every bit a royal princess. The team on the other hand…

"This is actually pretty easy to move in." Samantha said as she stretched her arms, the clothes she was wearing easily bending with her moments. Melissa agreed, straightening her black jacket. Both women were wearing a copy of the pantsuit Pierce gave Maven on their first magic lesson. Using it whenever she taught a magic lesson, two more outfits were made for the girls though the chest area had to be adjusted since it was too big for them (The mage made a smug face when they said so). Adrian and Aindrea were wearing modern suits with white undershirts and black ties, something the Demigod was currently hating with a passion.

"Urghhh, damn this infernal thing. Why did I agree to this?"

"Because you're a push over when someone asks you for something?" The healer said with a quirked brow and Aindrea scowled.

"I am a Half God of Olympus; I 'am no push over you-Argh God damn it! It came off again!" Melissa sighed and helped him re-tie it for the third time.

"Stop touching it and it won't come off."

"It itches!"

"And it itches because you keep touching it!"

"Oh shut up and fix the damn thi-Arghhh!"

Adrian rubbed his forehead in exhaustion when Melissa tightened Aindrea's neck wear a bit more than necessary, leaving the Demigod coughing and the Shadow Yokai smirking. Samantha didn't help when she asked a nearby guard if her teammate committed murder but they weren't part of the kingdom, would they be charged?

The Emissary internally praised the guard for not reacting (though his brow twitched for a second).

Reaching the inner palace without further issue, they came to a room that screamed royalty. A large hall with a spotless marble floor, stone pillars holding up the high ceiling and a grand mural detailing the Ancient history of the Dark Elves. Rows of tables with a countless number of delicacies from across the realms sat. It seemed like they were one of the last kingdoms to arrive because many Dark Elves with expensive clothing and jewelry mingled. From the explanation Emma gave the team before they set off and on the ride over, there were currently 8 kingdoms currently in the Coalition. Excluding Eldon and Ava, the other six were older kings that were around since the time of the first High Queen. They were the lords that were able to keep their territories intact and running after Odin's pact with Runa.

"Ah Eldon my boy, it good to see you still alive. I was starting to worry if your upstart days were over." An older Dark Elf with slightly gray hair and a small build walked forward, eliciting a grin from the mentioned king.

"Hello Erico, I see your old bones haven't given out yet." The elder Dark Elf scoffed.

"Oh not to worry, I'm not going anywhere. Can't when things are just getting interesting." Erico smiled and turned to Emma. "I see your search bared fruit. Well done."

"You played a big part and for that I'll forever be grateful." Emma bowed to the old king and he accepted with a small nod. Erico Fraráð was the king of the Fraráð Kingdom and was the father of Eldon's late wife, Earleen. An arranged marriage set up by their parents, the kingdoms have always been close allies and mourned the late queen when she perished by an incurable disease. Erico was in fact the one who Emma went to when the search for her father ran into a dead end and everyone started fighting over the crown. The elder king pointed Emma to Asgard, knowing that doing such a thing would hurt his reputation if found out but did it anyway. They would remember this kindness.

"Come, Queen Ava gave a speech earlier and said that official business would commence later in the evening. Let's catch up with the other kings in the meantime shall we?" Taking the hint from Erico to use this chance to rebuilt the connections his children nearly destroyed, Eldon marched into towards the other guests will firm steps.

Left to their own devices, the team chose to spread out and wander around the outer edges of the room. Many stern looking Dark Elves in noble outfits were doing the same and were most likely the guards the other kings brought. Adrian walked up a flight of stairs that led to the upper balcony, allowing him full view of the party below. Soft music played as some nobles danced on the unnecessarily wide dance floor and caterers walked around with drinks and treats. The Emissary rejected a caterer who offered him a drink and respectfully excused himself from a group of noble ladies who asked where he was from or on his outfit (this was actually the reason he made the trip up). He heard a chuckle from his left when he said "no" to another caterer.

"You are a guard but no one said you can't enjoy yourself a little." The words came from a tall Dark Elf who was drinking something a caterer brought. A handsome face with short sliver hair, the Dark Elf nodded to the floor below. "Looks like your friend's understand that." Adrian furrowed his brows at the comment and turned his head back to the lower floor. He found out what the Dark Elf meant immediately. Melissa was holding a small plate that struggled to hold the mountain of food placed on it and seemed to have no plan on slowing down. Aindrea was speaking to a couple of noble woman and was getting intimately close to one, who didn't seem to have a problem with it (though the wedding ring she wore as a necklace was concerning). Samantha was the only one acting fine, peacefully sharing one of her books with a small Elf boy in the corner.

Now if only it wasn't an Eldritch Spell book Maven gave her a couple months ago…He should probably go stop that (then again, the little boy's face lit up like he was reading an exciting kid's story).

"Don't judge a book by its cover; they're much more reliable than they look…usually." Adrian spoke and looked back at the Dark Elf, outstretching his hand. "Adrian."

"Halvar. I've heard of you." Halvar said, getting a surprised look from the Emissary.

"You have?"

"Emissary to the Greek Gods and Leader of the Red Dragon Slayer, yes I have."

"Leader?" Adrian made an odd expression at the title. It implied that he had control over the crazy bundle that was Pierce. Granted, he usually listens to the Emissaries' orders without issue, half the time he would do his own thing. "And what should I know you by?"

"Unfortunately, I'm no one special. Just a hired soldier for my king." Adrian noticed that he didn't say which king, seeing how there were multiple in the ball but chose not push for an answer. With all the baggage royalty had, he didn't want to be dragged into another mess. They stood there in silence for a minute before Halvar spoke again. "Can I ask you a question? If you don't mind me asking."

"…Sure, go ahead." A part of Adrian was a little suspicious on how the Dark Elf phrased that but chose to hear him out.

"Do you think that a race would flourish the best under one ruler or many?"

"Many." Halvar was surprised at the quick answer.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it's worked. Many civilizations in the past have showed that went ruled under a collective, they've survived much longer. It's not perfect but nothing is. If everything was ruled under one person and that person one day went mad or made a grave mistake then...well, you could guess how much damage that will cause. Your First Queen was a prime example." Adrian didn't know if bringing up the First Queen's failure was offensive but considering Halvar didn't call him out on it, the Emissary figured he was in the clear. "Why do you ask?" The Dark Elf smiled.

"Just getting different opinions on the subject, considering our current situation."

"How has that been going for you?"

"You're the only one who hasn't called me treasonous for asking." Halvar said bluntly, getting a small smile out of Adrian. It soon fell when he saw Aindrea get grabbed by a burly Dark Elf in noble clothing. He cursed when the Dark Elf punched Aindrea in the face and his face darkened (though the Dark Elf injured his hand punching the Demigod). Excusing himself from the Elf Guard, Adrian went to defuse the situation. In his haste to leave, Adrian didn't notice the sad look Halvar gave him. "And I completely agree…" Sighing, the Dark Elf placed his cup down and exited the Ball Room.

No one noticed him leave as the commotion coincidentally drew everyone's attention.

* * *

**Back to Pierce **

No matter where I went or how long I've been a part of the supernatural world, it always amazed that there were entirely different realms from Earth for me to explore. While I have seen incredible places like Olympus and Asgard (if only for one day), the city of the Flostenebris Kingdom was still a very interesting place. Spending the day walking around and seeing the sights with Maven, the experience was a little ruined by how high strung the citizens were. They treated us with hospitality and respect (especially after we brought back their king) but I could tell many were on edge.

'Knowing an army of Dark Elves who don't mind slavery could come down at any moment would be unsettling.' Elijah, who was left behind to watch the castle, told us that they were even worse when Eldon disappeared and civil disputes were becoming common in the past month (It got better after Eldon came out and calmed the people's worries). So after eating at a decent restaurant that was a bit too solemn, Maven and I retreated to spend the day in the castle. Sitting on the rug made from the skin of a very large and soft animal, Maven shot a bolt of flames to the fire place. Enjoying the fire's warmth as we drank some wine that I stol-borrowed from Eldon's office, we combed through the litter of books Maven copied from Ymir's personal library.

Until I got bored of that and placed the mage on my lap, proceeding to make out with her. Feeling Maven roll her eyes, she wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me back. We made out for a long while, my hands feeling all over her body until the need to breathe came up and we separated. I smiled at the bright red face Maven had knowing it had nothing to do with the amount of wine we just drank.

"See? Isn't this much better than looking through some old books?"

"…Some of these "old" books have knowledge that predates the most used magic system made by Merlin himself and has historical significance to one of the oldest mythologies around."

"Oh please keep talking dirty to me." I quipped and Maven shook her head in amusement before making a hesitant face. "What is it?"

"I-It also has a high level Seer Ritual." I quirked a brow at how nervous her aura became.

"Maven-"

"I know what Demeter said."

"Maven-"

"But I can't give up, not when I spent so much time-"

"Maven!" She jumped at the raise in my voice and I gave her an amused look. "I was just going ask what the ritual requires."

"…Oh." Lowering her head with a bashful tone, she got off my lap and started searching for the specific book. Finding it under a book that spoke of Ymir's travels in Muspelheim (the First Jötunn and Surtr apparently had some interesting adventures) I internally shook my head when she handed it to me nervously. The reason she was so nervous was because of what we found 2 months into the training on Olympus. One day when we all came back from a long training session, Maven got ready to use the Mirror of Isis to check on her mother. The mirror could only be used once a week and she regularly used it to see if they can gain clues on where her mother could be.

Until it shattered into a million pieces when she tried, nearly taking her hands off if it wasn't for the protection spell she put up in time. We rushed into her room when we heard the explosion and quickly tended to her injuries. Bringing the broken pieces to the Olympian Goddess of Agriculture, she was equally puzzled and had two guesses to what happened. Either Isis half assed her creation and we should go complain to the Egyptian Goddess (I would like to think she was joking but her face never changed throughout the conversation) or…someone noticed the artifact's effect and blocked it with a powerful spell, causing it to break.

To be able to block and destroy an artifact made by a Goddess while leaving no way to trace it back even with the help of a second Goddess…yeah, going to complain to Isis sounded like a better idea. But that didn't keep Maven down for long and she continued researching on how to find her parents, mysterious power be damned. While I and the rest of the team were worried for where her search will led, something she quickly noticed, we still chose to support her. I read over the ancient Jötunn text and blinked at the first requirement.

"Are you sure this a Seer Ritual?"

"Yeah…why?"

"Well I don't know much about Divination but how does crystallizing a Minotaur's penis help find-"

"It's the next page!" Blushing furiously under my laughing, Maven roughly flipped the page and I read the actual ritual. It was simpler than I thought. A personal ritual created my Ymir himself, there three basic requirements. An object of sentimental value that belonged to the one you wished to see, a blood connection and some cow milk (that last one seemed like it was thrown in there for the hell of it). It was a ritual Ymir used to check up on his creations when he left them behind to continue traveling.

"Sounds good, you want to try it out?"

"Not now." Maven shook her head. "It's simple in practice but the more Mana channeled into the ritual the clearer the image showed to the caster. I want to do it on Olympus since we can draw from the dense Mana there." I nodded and gave the book back so she can store it away.

"Do you think whatever destroyed the Mirror of Isis will notice the ritual?"

"No clue but with how old it is, I doubt it."

That didn't bring me any comfort. I wasn't there to see the mirror's destruction but I felt the dense Spiritual Energy that erupted from it from the next room. Considering Maven modified her room with Norse Runes and Strengthening Spells so she can experiment with new spells without worrying about the damage getting outside, the fact that it did was worrying (that's not even talking about the Protection Spells Athena and Apollon placed on the cabin). Demeter brought us aside one day when Maven was busy and told us that whatever destroyed the mirror wasn't holy, demonic or divine but was _still_ able to breach through Olympus's barriers for a moment. That was kind of terrifying.

"Well I better stock up on my Spiritual Energy then."

"Pierce, you don't have to-"

"Do you need another inspiring speech again?" I said with a raised brow. "Maven, for the millionth time, I don't care how dangerous or how long it'll take to find your parents. I'll help you however I can." She stared at me in a daze.

"Why?"

"…Because I'm your boyfriend? Because we fought giant monsters and crazy villain's together? Because we've-okay Mave, you're incredibly smart but that was a pretty dumb question." I said matter of fact. She continued staring at me before pressing her body against mine and wrapping her arms around my waist. I returned the hug and we sat there, before separating. Maven looked into my eyes, her's slightly watery.

"Thank you…"

"None needed." I smiled, getting a chuckle from the mage. We stayed starring at each other for a long while.

_'Now isn't this just a beautiful and wholesome moment. It would really suck if someone were to speak up and ruin it, wouldn't you agree Tyrfing?' _

_'In the rare event I find myself agreeing with you, I concur. It would suck wouldn't it, my good friend Dáinsleif?' _My lip twitched.

"You're both assholes." I glared at the two Demon Swords that were lying next to the fire place.

_'Hey man, you're the one who gave us a front seat row to this private moment. Keep us in the ring next time.' _Dáinsleif pointed out and I sighed. I originally brought out the Demon Swords because one of the books had a list of a bunch of other demonic weapons Ymir found in his travel. They recognized a couple Demon Swords like the one's Siegfried had in canon and some older cursed swords. When we came to a pair of Demon Swords called Gan Jiang and Mo Ye, they recoiled in disgust. I asked what was wrong but they chose to keep silent, staying by the fire place afterwards.

'Why do all Demon Swords seem to have a problem with each other?' Shaking my head at the relationship problems between demon weapons, I reached for the bottle of wine to pour me another glass. I blinked when I felt how light it was and flipped it over. Not a single drop fell. I slowly turned to look at a blushing Maven.

"Wow, it's gone already? We sure went through it fast." She said in an attempt to sound surprised and I deadpanned.

"Maven, I had one glass."

"…"

"…"

"…I'm really sad about my missing parents?"

Rolling my eyes good naturedly, I kissed the top of her head and stood up. Telling her I'll be right back, I grabbed Tyrfing and Dáinsleif before leaving. The trip to Eldon's office was a short if not amusing one. Every guard or attendant that I passed would give a quick show of respect and would wait until I walked far away before moving again. It wasn't a rare thing since it was the same with the servants in Olympus but none of them had pointy ears and grey skin like these one did. It really hit home that I was in true fantasy world (when everyone looks human, even Devils and Gods, you tend to forget magic exists for a second). Passing by a group of Elf women in maid outfits, I made it to the king's office and entered freely.

_'Are you sure you should be doing this?' _Tyrfing asked as I walked to the cabinet full of all kinds of alcohol. _'This is a king you're technically stealing from.'_

"Oh stealing is such a strong word. I'd like to call it…okay fine, I ain't got a better word for it but it's not stealing. I am getting paid for being on his side; let's just consider this the price for getting him off that mountain."

_'…A cheap bottle of wine for saving a king?'_

"Yep."

_'…You have the worse sense of equivalent exchange I have ever seen.'_

"Tell me about it. I swear one day I'm going to end up selling a country for a piece of hard candy or try to revive my mother who died with alchemy only for it to backfire and make me lose my arm and leg to give my brother a metal body because that makes sense."

_'…You're mother is dead? My condolences.' _Dáinsleif said.

"…No, she's not and did you even try to make sense of the alchemy part?" I deadpanned and the auras of both Demon Swords pulsed with what felt like shrugs.

_'We've learned to follow what your teammates do and ignore whatever outlandish crap comes out of your mouth. It just makes life easier.'_

"…Well that's rude. I feel insulted." Grabbing another bottle of high class wine and putting it inside my space ring; I felt the icy Demon Sword pulse with mirth.

_'Yeah, sure you are. Hey while you're doing that, grab the bottle of Dark Elf Booze. It's been awhile since I had some.' _Seeing a round bottle full of some sort of blue liquid, I took it under Dáinsleif's happy aura. It was an interesting day when I found out Demon Swords could actually drink alcohol but not in the conventional sense since they didn't have mouths. Instead I poured the alcohol over the blade and watched in fascination as the drink was absorbed by the sword. And naturally since they could drink, they could also get drunk (apparently).

The day I had to cut off my sentient demonic weapon because he's an angry drunk is the day that I realized…my home town was incredible for surviving me for as long as it did.

_'Please for the love of everything, don't give him the whole bottle again. He wouldn't shut up about wooing your stupid Jötunn trophy and when it didn't response, he started singing to it. All. Fucking. Night.' _

_'Hey! I almost got through to her but I messed up on the finish. It'll work next time!'_

"That a boy, never give up your dreams!"

_'Yes sir!' _

_'…Oh dear god, someone help me.'_

Chuckling at the fired up Dáinsleif and forlorn Tyrfing, I turned around to exit the office. All things considered, the day has been overall quiet. Elijah was given our personal magical signature to alert if anything were to happen at the border but nothing has happened after the attack a couple days ago. Vargas was also off doing he's own thing in the castle (training at the barracks if my memory served me right) and would be ready if anything came up. Planning to go join the Spirit Inheritor after spending some quality time with Maven, I came out of my thoughts when I felt the aura approaching me around the corner. Almost bumping into them if I didn't stop in time, she gave a charming smile when she recognized me.

"Oh, hello. I'm sorry, I didn't see you there." Saying that with an oddly honest aura, I observed the new arrival. A tall Dark Elf woman with features similar to Eldon and Emma, she had a voluptuous figure that surpassed her sister's more modest frame. The Eldest Princess lightly bowed to me. "It's a pleasure to meet one of my father's saviors."

"Can't say the feeling's mutual." I retorted but that didn't erase the cordial smile on Edith's face. "I thought you were supposed to be on house arrest." I noticed the two guards behind the princess, both staring at me with blank expressions.

"This is my home." Edith said while waving her hand at the surroundings.

_'She got you there.' _The edge of my mouth lifted at Dáinsleif's comment (thankfully he knew not to relay that to everyone and only said it to me). I didn't like Emma's siblings. Her brother was a pretentious dick that tried to kill his sister from what I heard while Edith…well something about her rubbed me the wrong way. I learned to trust my gut after all my adventures and they haven't steered me wrong yet. Got my ass beat on multiple occasions sure but they worked out in the end. Mostly.

"Then don't let me keep you." I said, walking around the princess and leaving the area. Keeping a lock on her aura with Chi Vision, I furrowed my brows on her pathing through the castle. Heading deeper into the castle before reaching the dungeons to which she was stopped by some of the other guards, Edith eventually made it to a garden from the feel of it and sat peacefully on the patch of grass without much fanfare. Standing in the middle of hall for a couple of minutes, I stopped spying on the Princess when nothing happened. I couldn't get rid of the sinking feeling that something was wrong. 'But what?' That stayed on my mind as I made the trip back to Maven.

In my great focus on the princess's aura…I never noticed the fact that neither of the guard's auras were next to her anymore.

* * *

**Same Time, Tardálfar Castle**

"I can't believe you." Adrian said while rubbing the bridge of his nose, a wronged looking Aindrea sitting in front of him. "I mean, her being married was one thing but a blind married woman? Really Aindrea?"

"For the last time, I didn't know she was married! Or that she was blind! It's not like I can tell!" Aindrea defended himself and Melissa snorted on the side, enjoying the show.

"Not to mention that you soundly exactly like her husband, what are the odds?" They turned to look at the Dark Elf nobleman sitting with his wife, a healer repairing the broken hand he got from punching Aindrea. The Demigod returned the nasty glare the husband sent his way. "How unlucky."

"Well let's try to avoid causing more of a scene okay?" Adrian asked, getting a grunt of acknowledgment from Aindrea. He sighed and turned his head to see Samantha walking up to them. "What happened?" The Emissary asked, curious (and a bit scared) on the proud smile the healer had.

"I think I just found a promising student for the Eldritch Arts School."

"…Wait what-" A high pitch screech vibrated from the kid's area and a bunch of Elf children were seen running away. A small boy stood in the center, a mass of green tentacles coming out of a magic circle on his hand. His innocent smile didn't match with his current actions which was to chase the other kids in the weirdest game of tag in existence.

"Oh my, he shouldn't summon a minor Eldritch being with only basic knowledge on their greetings. He may hurt the poor thing's feelings if he doesn't do it right." No, that wasn't the problem here Samantha. Adrian fought the urge to pull his hair's out as the Dark Elf guards watching the whole thing were stuck, not knowing how to deal with the situation. Melissa was dying of laughter on the side.

'Relax, just relax. It could be so much worse…Pierce could be here.' That honestly shouldn't have worked as well as it did but he calmed down nonetheless. Telling Samantha to go stop the child, a melodious chuckle broke through the sounds of talking.

"Why isn't this exciting, I haven't had a ball this entertaining since my coronation." Alva Tardálfar walked through the crowd of nobles; they made a path for the queen and bowed to her even the other kings. It was obvious the amount of respect the First Queen's Bloodline garnered. "But I think it's time to get down to serious business."

"I couldn't agree more." A short Dark Elf with long hair and a golden crown spoke, stepping forward to meet the queen. Like a domino effect, 6 other Dark Elves in royal clothing came out to stand next to him. Adrian saw Eldon was one of the Dark Elves, Emma standing behind him in the crowd. "What is the purpose of this Ball Queen Alva? It can't be a coincidence you've done it in the middle of these troubling times." The blunt way the king asked Alva her intentions on the ball brought a couple gasps from the crowd.

'Not bad.' Adrian smiled. He didn't fail to notice that the ones who gasped were the younger Dark Elves with the older ones not flinching, staring straight at the queen waiting patiently for her answer. These older Dark Elves included the other kings, beings who have been around since Odin's warring days and had lived long enough to not care about formality when it became inconvenient. Alva stood proud at the king's question.

"I came to help mend some bridges." The queen looked over to Eldon. "If you would."

"Thank you your Majesty." The Elf King stepped forward and faced the crowd. "I am glad Queen Alva was able to give me this moment to speak. There are certain things I need to answer for."

"You having nothing to apologize for Eldon, it's your brat that needs a beating." Another Elf king known as Sture snorted and that got a couple chuckles from the other kings. Ruler of the Haurók kingdom, it was also his soldiers that were injured in Eric's botched attempt to assassinate his sister.

"I know and he will answer for his crimes but please, first let me speak." Eldon saw no one interrupted him and continued. "My absence has caused implications I didn't foresee and for that I apologize. I grew complaint and thought that you would all band together to face the threat if something were to happen to me. I see I was naive." His words caused a round of frowns to emerge on the present kings.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" The ruler of Gramóðr, Vernon asked and Eldon gave a bitter smile.

"You are still afraid of trusting each other even after all the things we've done to progress forward. I know my son's actions were unacceptable but don't use it as an excuse to act like children!"

"Watch your tone boy! We've been around far longer than you and we'll be around even if that damn God comes here." Another king said and Eldon's face hardened.

"And how many bodies will it take to make sure your castles stay standing?" The question brought a wave of silence. Eldon knew exactly how these ancient kings kept their slices of land intact against the Raven God. By pilling tens of millions of Dark Elf bodies on their front door and hope the stench kept him away. By hiding like cowards. When it didn't work and Odin kept going, they rallied together to force him to create the Aesir-Dökká Pact or face the remaining Dark Elf armies in a head on fight. The Coalition wasn't a recent idea; the concept existed long ago and it had a very bloody history. Eldon didn't want that for his realm. Not this time.

"You wouldn't understand. We did what we had to do." Eldon shook his head.

"I know you did. When backed into a corner, what else could you have done? I understand that and we have better options now but the question I have is…will you wait until you're backed into another corner to choose one of them?" The nobles in the hall blankly stared at the young king as he took a deep breath. "I'm not asking you to give up your titles or your lands, hell keep your pride if you truly need it but please understand; this isn't the Ancient Era anymore. The entire world isn't trying to bring constant warfare and bloodshed here anymore. Only a small part of it is…And you're all making it so damn easy for them."

A numb silence settled into the hall after Eldon's speech. Adrian and the others watched the expressions of the crowd mix. Some were regretful; other's tired but most were stubborn with the main ones being the ancient kings. Being told by a far younger ruler that their current actions were wrong would get that effect. Eldon sighed, also seeing this and thought that his words fell on deaf ears until he heard Alva speak.

"A part of me didn't want me to host this ball, if I'm being honest." The sentence confused the majority of the crowd and they turned to look at the queen. Alva had her eyes closed and her arms crossed. "I thought it would be pointless. No matter how much they like you, you just can't change the mind of some fools even when it brings them to the brink of collapse."

'Oh boy.' Adrian saw how the comment insulted certain nobles but Alva ignored them and continued.

"But now I'm glad I did." She opened her eyes and turned to face Eldon, a small smiling gracing her face. "The Tardálfar Kingdom will help you in facing the Dökkálfar Faction." That got a reaction out the crowd. Many were shocked, including Eldon himself, because from the start of the civil war Alva hasn't given direct support to help the Svartálfar Faction. She was in the Coalition mainly in name and helped built the wall but hasn't supplied troops to fight Talien's army. Eldon, quickly getting over his surprise, gave a grateful nod.

"But…why? Why now?" Alva slowly turned to Vernon who asked the question.

"Because win or lose, when my daughter and her generation grow up, I want them to remember the Tardálfar families role in this war was one meant for its people...and not for itself." Alva's voice never wavered and she closed her eyes soon after, the confession seemingly draining her. No one spoke for a while, just choosing to settle on her words. Erico stepped out from the crowd to stand with Eldon.

"At what point did young lasses have wisdom greater than old kings. It's maddening I tell you." The ancient Dark Elf said in bemusement. "The Fraráð Kingdom will support you to the best of its ability."

After Erico came out to fully support Eldon alongside Alva, it became a domino effect. The other kings came forward one by one with the last being Sture, who still wanted Eric to pay for his wounded soldiers. Eldon took it all with a gratifying smile. Things were finally coming together, the Coalition would truly work together to drive out the Dökkálfar Faction and after that…well maybe hope did exist for his race. War plans and talks of reorganizing each kingdom's armies to better combat the approaching threat almost drowned out the words that came from Alva.

Almost.

"What are you doing here?" The biting cold that came from the Queen was palpable and Adrian, along with everyone else in the ball, turned to where she was looking. A lone Dark Elf stood in the middle of the entrance, she had short black hair and black armor.

'Sabel.' Adrian recognized the female Dark Elf as the one who faced Deublyg days earlier when the wall was attacked. From how multiple soldier's surrounded and pointed their weapons at her a moment later, they recognized her as well. Sabel shook her head in amusement.

"I can't say I expected this, I thought you would need to beat some sense into these old dogs for them to work together but you proved me wrong. Well done." Sabel walked forward, ignoring the sharp spears being pointed at her. "But it makes the offer I came with worthless, not that it wasn't before."

"What offer?" Vernon asked to which Sabel smiled.

"To pledge yourselves to the Dökkálfar Faction and allow your kingdoms to live another day." The nobles in the room couldn't have reacted harder if they tried. Yelling and spitting at the Dark Elf in a very unroyal way that there was no way in Hel that they'll lowered themselves to follow a disgraced king, Sabel smirked. "Oh look at you all, kicking up a fuss now that you have that putrid line's backing. It's pathetic. I'm glad he allowed the second option."

"...What second option?" Sabel smiled even wider. Waving her hand, dozens of soldiers started to pile out the way she came in. Taking positions in the air and behind the hostile Dark Elf, Sabel looked at the cautious nobles with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Take a guess." All the Dark Elves who came as guards stood in front of the group of nobles, weapons drawn. Adrian and the others came next to Emma and Eldon as tensions ran high in the air. Then it was mercilessly cut by the wave of power that came over the room. The power was mainly concentrated on the intruders with many enemy Dark Elves going pale. Sabel's calm demeanor froze for a second as Alva came forward, cracks appearing on the hard marble floor at her steps. "You should stand down your Majesty." Sabel said as Alva glared.

"You come into my home uninvited, threatened my allies with death and then proceed to command me to stop? In my kingdom? No girl...I don't think I will." Alva faced her palm to the intruders and the space in front of the queen distorted. A magic circle the size of a wall appeared in front of Sabel and her forces but it only lasted a second before shattering. Sabel held her ground as half of the ballroom was destroyed and when the smoke settled, besides the small cracks on her armor she appeared fine (her soldiers were also alright since she took the brunt of the attack). Adrian, since the first time he arrived, stared at the calm Alva with shock. Why? Because beside Shuten and Kyūkan, she was the third being he's met that can match the presence of a God. Apollon had once shown the group the full might of his aura in Olympus so they could have an idea on how it would be when they eventually face stronger enemies.

And the Dark Elf Queen was damn close to matching that aura. Sabel rolled her shoulders as she walked through the rubble, more Tardálfar soldiers coming in from other places because of the commotion. She laughed at this however, causing Alva to frown at her nonchalance considering she was outmatched and soon to be outnumbered.

"Oh I wish I could stay to see this night to the end but I got my orders." Sabel started to float upwards and Alva sneered.

"And what makes you think I'll let you leave?"

"Because...you'll be too busy dealing with them." The piercing roar of a Wyvern echoed. A bloody body of the lesser dragon landed on the ground, leaving a large crater and brought everyone's attention upwards. 10 ships floated in the sky, smaller than the Skíðblaðnir that attacked the wall but their numbers surprised the crowd either way.

"How?" To say Alva was shocked would be an understatement. Being the ruler of the Tardálfar Kingdom, she was directly linked to the country wide barriers yet she didn't feel the ships enter her cities air space nor was she alerted they did. Her frown deepened when blasts from the ship started shooting towards them. _**"Nādhir Vápna!"**_ Three small black orbs shot into the air, the spells of ice, fire and lightning coming from the ships being absorbed into the orbs. Increasing in size until they were ten meters tall, they exploded and obliterated 3 vessels. Sabel clicked her tongue.

"Spread them out." At her command, the ships started to fly farther away and caused havoc. Seeing hundreds of soldiers fly out and attack the city, Alva's face became conflicted.

"Go protect your kingdom your Majesty. We can handle them." Eldon saw through Alva's worries and taking a second to hesitate, Alva flew into the air to chase after the ships. The other kings commanded their guards to take down Sabel and she snorted. Taking out a pair of swords, she faced the group of Dark Elves with a maniacal grin. Weaving through the numerous spears and swords that lunged at her, she cut down the guards within seconds. Jumping over the halberd of one guard, she kicked him into the wall and cut off the head of another. Leaving a bloody path through the destroyed room, she barely blocked in time when Aindrea lunged forward with his spear and sent her skidding back. The Demigod didn't relent and thrust multiple times, forcing the Dark Elf to focus on parrying his blows.

_**"**_**_Solis Beckoning Scriptor!" _**Sabel was blindsided by multiple sunlight rays slamming into her side and burning holes into her armor. Aindrea used this moment to send her flying back and she dragged her feet to slow herself. Sabel smiled as blood leaked from her wounds.

"Not very gentlemanly for two men to take on one lady."

"I think you'll be just fine 'milady'. " Adrian said sarcastically causing Sabel to chuckle.

"Oh you have no idea." A box shaped object suddenly appeared next to the Dark Elf. Looking like it was made out of obsidian and with golden streaks running along it's sides, Sabel calmly placed a single hand on it. It started to glow, covering the box and Sabel in a bright light. When it faded a two meter tall knight in black armor stood there, golden Norse Runes littering it's body and dense Spiritual Energy. Before Adrian or Aindrea could assess the situation, the knight charged at them. Slashing with two swords, they blocked with their respective weapons and strained under the attack. Both sinking into the floor slightly, Adrian let the blade he was blocking fall and pierced at her stomach.

He blinked when his God made sword only left a shallow cut.

"...I'm starting see why you hate Dwarves." A groan from Aindrea was all he got. Melissa and Samantha watched Adrian be kicked across the room when he tried to slash a second time. They were leading Eldon and Emma away while they handled Sabel.

"This doesn't make any sense." The Dark Elf King said as some enemy soldiers were killed by Melissa.

"What do you mean?" Samantha asked.

"This attack. Assassinating kings to destabilize their kingdoms is a regular occurrence in war but if that's what they're trying to achieve, why did they bring so little soldiers? Not only that, how did they get through her barriers so easily?" That was a good question. Melissa and Samantha frowned, seeing how the ships were quickly being destroyed by Alva and her forces. Things weren't looking good for the Dökkálfar Faction. "It's practically suicide...unless..."

"It's a distraction." Melissa said, a puzzled expression on her face. "But what are they trying to distract from?"

They stood in the hallway of the palace, explosions and sounds of fighting echoing across the city. Melissa closed her eyes and activated Chi Vision, Pierce having taught her the technique on Olympus. Trying her best to ignore the feelings of malice and constant death happening, a single point in the palace caught her attention for one reason.

It was the only place that successfully blocked her Chi Vision and in the sea of ripped apart barriers, it was very eye catching. Telling the others what she found, they followed the Shadow Yokai to the location. Passing by multiple groups of soldiers fighting intruders (to which they quickly helped), they reached a cut off portion of the palace. Having it's own garden and two story house surrounded by tall walls, they came to a grisly scene. Multiple Tardálfar soldier's lied dead around the house, being killed in strange ways. One looked like he tripped and skewered himself on his own sword while another whose head was crushed was lying next to a bloody rock.

"What is this?" Samantha asked, waving her hand at the air. "The barriers here are still up yet there's this section that's not working."

"Someone broke it down?"

"No, there's no evidence of forced entry or someone tampering with it. It just...didn't stop who came through here." Not knowing how to take that, Melissa narrowed her eyes and walked to the house. Sensing two auras inside (one which felt terrified) she kicked open the door and came to a scene that was equally as disturbing as the one outside but in a different way. In the middle of a decorated living room, a small Dark Elf girl and a tall male Dark Elf with silver hair stood. The little girl was in sleep wear and was tied up, tears going down her face. The women who entered the room slowly turned to look at the male Elf. He made a confused face at the sheer coldness in their eyes before looking to his hostage and blinking.

"Oh...I just realized how bad this looks." He yelped when they charged at him.

* * *

**Back to Pierce**

"So what kind of wedding do you think Samantha would like?" I stopped petting Denki at Vargas' question and slowly turned to look at the Spirit Inheritor. We sat on a bench next to the training field, taking a tea break after some small sparring. I observed his face for a bit to see any falsehood and when I found none, went back to looking at Svartalfheim's moon.

"Most likely something small. She doesn't strike me as the extravagant type but hey, I could be wrong. Probably invite her family and people she's close to." Vargas nodded.

"I thought so as well."

"You gonna pop the question?"

"No, not now but I would like to promise myself to her."

"Good on you." I drank some of my tea, smacking my lips at the hot drink in the night air. 'Gotta enjoy the small things you know.' Vargas gave me a look.

"You don't think I'm being too hasty? We haven't known each other long."

"It's not about time, it's about how you feel. If you want it do it, no one can decide for you but yourself." My parents (in my past life) proposed to each other in the first year of college and they met that year. Lot's of people said they were too young but a decade later, they had loving family and a healthy relationship before I died. "Love is a lot like religion, you just got to have faith and make it work...you know, expect for the part where you can actually see and make love to a real partner."

"...Pierce, we work for Gods."

"And I can really feel the love!" Chuckling and clicking cups, we enjoyed the rest of our tea in silence. Exiting the training area, I held up a hand when Vargas asked how I was planning to marry my girlfriends. I was not touching _that_ subject with a ten foot long flag pole. It wasn't the marriage part that deterred me, I personally didn't have a problem with marriage and figured it was going to happen eventually (unless I royally fuck up) but the how was the problem. I refuse to marry them all at once like Issei because that felt cheap but if I were to do them one at a time, who would go first? Melissa by time most likely but-

"Pierce." Vargas voice brought me out of self imposed headache and I looked to him. He didn't say anything, choosing to stare into the air and I followed his gaze. A massive barrier hung over the entire city, thousands of magic spells hovering on the see through barrier and pulsing with deep Norse magic, showing their powerful foundations. Then they started dissolving. Like a curtain the barrier came down and receded into each corner of the city, multiple large portals appearing high in the air a second later.

Then the ships starting coming through.

"Shit!" We cursed, alarms sounding across the city. Hundreds of Dark Elves exited the ships and started attacking the Flostenebris soldiers. I immediately turned to Vargas. "Get to Maven and start helping get civilians out. I'm going to check on Elijah and see what the hell happened!" We split up, Vargas going to the front of the castle while I flew to the top. I spoke to Maven on my communication ring and told her to meet up with Vargas (I told her where) before activating Chi Vision. Sensing him in a tower to my left, I flew to a window of the room and smashed through it. Dramatic? Very but we were in a hurry.

"Oh...well isn't that convenient. I thought we would have to go find you." I froze, looking up from my kneeling position. Elijah stood in the corner of the room, slightly beaten up and a dagger pressed to his neck. The dagger was held by a Dark Elf in a maid outfit. She long black hair, a pretty face and a lithe body. Edith was sat next to the pair, resting her chin on her hand and looking highly amused. None of them were the ones who spoke however. Turning to stare straight into the eyes of the last Dark Elf, he gave me a warm smile and motioned towards the chair in front of him. "How about you sit down, we have a lot to talk about."

I had to give it to him, even aged and feeble, Talien's voice never went below a whisper.

* * *

And done. War waits for no Man, God, or whatever's in between. Time to get to it. I hope you enjoyed!


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